Seamless EMR (electronic medical record) adaption

Electronic Medical Record (EMR), is basically the digital version of the medical records that were recorded previously on the paper, basically the medical records previously were paper-based but EMR has replaced the paper-based medical records with the Electronic Medical Record.

Aims and Objectives of EMR

Aims and objectives regarding the adaption of the EMR are:

·         To introduce EMR in the hospital to manage the data of the patients.

·         To remove the paper-based records and replace them with the Electronic medical record.

·         To decrease the numbers of the phone call of the patients regarding the prescriptions.

·         To improve the quality of the patient’s data and save it in a proper system, so that it cannot be lost.

·         To decrease the transcription cost by giving online prescriptions to the patients.

Technological advancements has been increased day by day and the use of the electronic media has influenced different fields to use advancement of technology in their organizations. The introduction of Electronic Medical Records has been a significant finding by the people because it has provide benefits in the field of Medical. The EMR is now based on the easy access by the people and great amount of data can be processed in the EMR easily. EMR handles the certain type of data that is specifically related with the medical information and to structure different type of data related to medical. The major significance and importance of EMR is that it has a quick adoption over the Worldwide. And it will be beneficial for the doctors in the hospitals as well.

The main significance of this EMR system is that it will share the patient information among different healthcare organizations and this sharing of information has changes the IT systems completely by changing the model of the hospitals form point to point to many to many. It will coordinate in different fields in the hospitals and has changes the system of the hospitals completely, making the hospitals a more modern system to handle and manage the data of the patients more effectively.

EMR is helpful for the hospitals to manage a large amount of data of several patients that might get lost in the paper based records and cannot be properly maintained. Each and every doctor can communicate with the patients and can share their reports. This EMR system will include the demographics of the patients, their medical history, their progress reports and report of their illness. The tests of the Laboratory, Their radiology images, some clinical photographs, some medication information, the side-effects of the medicines. The billing record of the patients, record of the appointments and the reminders.

These al things make the significance of the EMR in this developing world.

Literature Review/Background of EMR

Computerized practices in the medical fields have become a practice nowadays because. Most of the hospitals have started to invest in the EMR for its implementation in different hospitals. The EMR implementation has 3 phases: Number one is the pre-implementation phase, Number two is the implementation phase and Number three is the Post- implementation phase. By passing through all the phases it is identified that the EMR will be successfully implementation in the hospitals. The implementation of EMR in the hospitals is necessary to develop a proper framework in order to conduct the data management processes in the hospital. EMR is beneficial for the patients as well as the doctors and this maintains a positive communication barrier between them [1].

Many hospitals have improved the utilization of EMR over the time, and the implementation of EMR has been successful in different areas. Many factors in the hospitals have influenced the implementation of EMR in the hospitals, including the desire of the doctors and hospital staff to reduce the paper based work and paper based prescription for the patients, due to online communication with the patients, the patients visiting the hospital on a daily basis is also reduced and this have a positive impact on the staff of the hospital and the doctors as well [2].

Hospitals and the medical groups want to improve the quality of their records and want to become a profitable organization that manages the data properly and can decrease their cost on the paper and can become more advanced with the technology. The hospitals move towards the EMR system in order to improve the efficiency of their data and to improve the systems of the hospitals in order to get more facilitated by the technology and to have an easy access to the patients and their records by just a single click [3].

EMR that has been widely used in the health care centers has now become increasingly important in the society. But still the percentage of the use of EMR in the health care centers is low. There are some barriers in the adoption of the EMR in several health care centers including the time commitments, low financial costs, unavailability of the advanced technology and the insufficient training of the staff regarding the use of EMR. If all these things will be managed properly, then EMR can be successfully adopted in different organizations and different health care centers [4].

In the adoption of the EMR, the size of the hospital and the management support is the major factor. Moreover EMR has also reduced the burden of work in the hospitals because most of the work in the hospital are now carried through the EMR and work load from the doctors as well as the staff has been reduced. But only few hospitals have taken benefit from the EMR system because of the lack of the knowledge about the EMR system and lack of the skilled persons to utilize this technology. EMR has several benefits but some barriers have occurred in the implementation of the EMR in the hospitals. EMR has increased the efficiency in the hospital regarding the data of the patients and the doctors and the staff of the hospital is more vigilant due to the easy access to the records of the patients and an easy and effective way of communication with the patients [5].

Anticipations and Limitations of EMR

Electronic Medical Records with CDS tools have been connected empirically to increased adherence to effective care and clinical guidelines. In spite of providers' best intentions, several factors might result in encounters of patients which don't adhere to the guidelines of best practice. Some reasons due to which this nonadherence is caused include lack of time during the visit to patient, clinicians not understanding that guidelines apply to a specific patient, and clinicians not comprehending the guidelines. The systems of EMR are expected to overcome these challenges and issues. For instance, it is expected that when physicians and clinicians are reminded about vaccinations, they can tend to patients in a careful and better manner.

Other than just improving the storage of information and patient care in the hospital, EMR or Electronic Media Records are expected to help researchers as well in conducting research. For instance, when patient data is stored electronically, it increases the prevalence of data which might even lead to quantitative analyses for identifying practices based on evidence in an easier manner. In addition to it, researchers of public health are utilizing clinical data stored electronically for producing research that can benefit society. Clinical data’s prevalence is limited but it is expected to increase with time. Through the combination of other sources with clinical, hospitals and researchers are expected to monitor outbreaks in a better way while improving the surveillance of biological threats [6].

Limitations of EMR

There are several limitations to the implementation of Electronic Medical Records including:

Unintended consequences, Security and privacy concerns, Loss of productivity associated with the adoption of EMR, Alterations in workflow, and Financial issues.

Financial issues including the costs of implementation and adoption, revenue declines, productivity loss, and presenting a disincentive for physicians and hospitals to implement and adopt an EMR. Costs of implementing and adopting an EMR involve installing and purchasing software and hardware, training the end-users, and converting charts based on a paper to electronic ones.

It has also been expected that the costs of maintenance of EMR can be quite costly. For instance, the software has to be updated and hardware has to be replaced regularly. Additionally, providers must be offered consistent support and training for end-users of electronic medical records. Another limitation which is concerned with the adoption of electronic medical records is concerned with workflow disruption for medical providers and staff which seem to result in productivity loss. It can be said that productivity loss merges from end-users acquiring the knowledge of new systems and might even lead to revenue losses. Another drawback of the electronic medical records is actually the violation risk of patient privacy, which is a rising and adverse concern for patients because of health information’s increasing amount [7].

Implementation Plan of EMR

Following is the project team for the implementation of Electronic Medical Records:

Executive Project Sponsor: The project sponsor will be responsible for the overall effectiveness and success of the project. In addition to it, the project manager will be assigned by the executive sponsor. For instance, Prosci is a renowned firm that manages change and it has determined visible and active executive sponsorship as the most significant element in project success. Both the project manager and executive sponsor will find the members of project team and they will not only lead the change but also manage the resistance.

Project Manager: The senior manager who has experience in leading implementation teams will make decisions about EMR implementation. The project manager will also be accountable for the regular management of implementation of EMR for the project duration. As explained above, both the project manager and executive sponsor will work to identify the members of the project team.

Project Team: The project will be working on almost all the aspects of implementation of EMR with a specific focus on reporting, training, data migration, communication, security and privacy, IT management, business change, and management of the budget. In accordance with the complexity of EMR implementation and resource availability, multiple roles might be fulfilled by one person. And the most important consideration is the effort and time required by each role for ensuring the success of overall project. The project team will also have a clinical representation.

Phases of EMR Implementation

There are three phases of EMR implementation and they include:

·         Readiness of EMR

This phase includes preparation and planning, assessment, and engagement. First of all, the initial planning will be conducted and it will take a month. An analysis will be performed for assessing the needs in terms of technical readiness and business of the hospital. Moving on, the scope of the work will be explained and business processes will be redesigned. It will also take a duration of one month.

·         Deployment of EMR

The first stage is deployment and it includes allocated environments of pre-production. The project will be planned and trials of data migration will be conducted for creating an extract file. In this section, ad-hoc reports will be identified and developed. The second stage of this stage is converting the data validation and final checklist of readiness will be developed. These processes will take approximately three months.

·         Adoption of EMR

This section includes providing support to end-users, addressing issues, and transition to operations and adoption phase. It will take approximately six months for completing.

References of EMR

1.      Keshavjee, K. (2006). Best Practices in EMR Implementation: A Systematic Review . International Symposium on Health Information Management Research, 1-15.

2.      Claire McCarthy, M. a. (2013). Change Management Strategies for an Effective EMR Implementation. HIMSS.

3.      Brown, N. (2005). Driving EMR Adoption: Making EMRs a. Health Management Technology, 2.

4.      Amanda L. Terry, P., Gavin Giles, M., & Judith Belle Brown, P. (2009). Adoption of Electronic Medical Records in Family Practice: The Providers’ Perspective. Practice Management, 508-512.

5.      Chae, Y. M. (2011). The Adoption of Electronic Medical Records and Decision Support Systems in Korea. Korean Society of Medical Informatics , 172-177.

6.      O’malley, A. S., Grossman, J. M., Cohen, G. R., Kemper, N. M., & Pham, H. H. (2010). Are electronic medical records helpful for care coordination? Experiences of physician practices. Journal of general internal medicine, 25(3), 177-185.

7.      Menachemi, N., & Collum, T. H. (2011). Benefits and drawbacks of electronic health record systems. Risk management and healthcare policy, 4.