Government Created a Committee an Electronic Health Essay

Total Length: 985 words ( 3 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 4

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Government Created a Committee

An electronic health record is a digital record of a patient's health information generated from every medical visit a patient makes. This information includes the patient's medical history, demographics, known drug allergies, progress notes, follow up visits, medications, vital signs, immunizations, laboratory data and radiological reports. The EHR automates and streamlines a clinician's workflow. (Himss, 2009)

Due to the multiple advantages of an EHR, health care agencies have been aiming to push up this technology. In 2004, the FDA approved of an implantable EHR microchip into patients. Each microchip has a specific code which is identified through sensors. The device is implanted under the skin, in the back of the arm, requiring a twenty minute procedure, without needing the use of sutures. ("Fda approves computer," 2004)

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, deaths due to preventable medical errors rank as the fifth most common cause of death. (CDC, 2011) These errors can be attributed to human factors, the complexity of medicine itself and to system failure. Exhaustion and fatigue due to long work hours, unfamiliar settings, time pressures, stress and inability to acknowledge the severity of a certain given set of signs and symptoms are a few human factors that may play a role in medical errors. Implantable EHR devices provide health care set ups with a decreased need for the employment of a large workforce. These microchips provide physicians with easily retrievable data that is continuous and accurate reducing the error involved with poor communication amongst on call residents and nurses.

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Also, the problems involved with providing continuity of care as well as reducing work hours can be solved with these devices, thus promoting patient safety. (Himss, 2009)

These devices also minimize the errors involved with system failure. Disconnected reporting systems within a hospital can cause major misunderstandings which can prove to be lethal for patients. Moreover, this device provides physicians and health care facilities to document every step of patient care providing good evidence for medico legal allegations.

These microchip devices were mainly recommended for patients with diabetes, stroke, seizure disorder and organ transplants. (Prutchi, 2011) Most of these patients require daily documentation of their health status. For example, patients with uncontrolled diabetes require daily monitoring of their blood glucose levels as well as urinary ketones in health settings. The dosage of their medicine also needs to be altered according to their blood glucose levels. These alterations may be on a daily basis. Patients with organ transplants also require regular laboratory results for monitoring their electrolytes, checking for infection and response to treatment. These work ups are usually extensive and are often needed to be viewed by more than one physician in order to determine progress and control complications. These records need to be viewed and assessed by every physician involved in providing health care to that particular patient. The implantation of microchip EHR devices will eliminate recall bias, charting time and charting….....

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"Government Created A Committee An Electronic Health" (2012, January 26) Retrieved April 29, 2024, from
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"Government Created A Committee An Electronic Health" 26 January 2012. Web.29 April. 2024. <
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"Government Created A Committee An Electronic Health", 26 January 2012, Accessed.29 April. 2024,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/government-created-committee-electronic-77616