ORIGINAL WORK write a paper of 600 words using the current state of the infrastr
ID: 344415 • Letter: O
Question
ORIGINAL WORK
write a paper of 600 words using the current state of the infrastructure of an EMR (Electronic Medical Record)and focus on a specific area: security, data management, connectivity, etc., and make suggestions for future improvements. Papers must include the following:
-Clearly describe current infrastructure, workflow, and processes.
-Identify the existing gaps and issues within the environment.
-Provide solutions for improvement associated with the gaps identified - zero cost and an unlimited budget.
-Recognize current technology that can change healthcare infrastructure.
Explanation / Answer
In the context of the given question, Electronic Medical Records(EMR) is a digital collection of patient reports and documents, stored electronically for easy access.
In today's age of digitisation, almost all medical institutes, hospitals and healthcare centres are moving from traditional operations to electronically controlled data repository. This includes a more streamlined and precise workflow of data entry at the POC when a patient enters and registers for treatment, until the tests are done and all patient reports are uploaded along with doctor's prescription and course of medicines, as electronic file in the database for future action and processing. The advantage is these records can be accessed across hospitals and medical institutes, and at anytime irrespective of geographic location.
Some of the gaps that I read through the references, and also based on my observation are :
1. data management and compatibility across different softwares and operating systems
2. data security that all such patient dat is confidential, and this must not be accessible to unauthorized people or intruders.
3. capacity of data storage- if its really a good process to maintain very old data of more than 10 years old.
Some of the process improvement possible are:
1. to maintain a single patient file across a hospital even if the patient revisits them after 5 years. This will prevent duplicacy of records.
2. all sensitive patient data must be protected with cryptographic softwares/security passwords
3. patients must not be allowed access into this system or given any hard copy reports, all such data must be shared through emails or doctor's prescription only. This will prevent any unecessary leakage of confidential data outside the premises of the hospital.
4. All medical operations must be quarterly scrutinized by medical regulatory bodies to check for non-compliance and minimise any process risks.
References:
Hannan, T. J. (1996). Electronic medical records. Health informatics: An overview, 133.
Miller, R. H., & Sim, I. (2004). Physicians’ use of electronic medical records: barriers and solutions. Health affairs, 23(2), 116-126.
Evans, J. A. (1999). U.S. Patent No. 5,924,074. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
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