General healthcare technology trends related to data/information has evolved in the short amount of time I have been a nurse.  I graduated with my LPN in 2010.  At that time, I was working at a Pediatric Clinic.  Paper charting was still being utilized at that time.  However, by 2012, EMR was being pushed nationwide; and the transition to start using EMRs began (Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services, 2012).  Potential challenges or risks that may be inherent in the technologies associated with these trends as EMR evolved was financial barriers, as well as patient privacy.  The cost to initially get EMR up and running was not the only financial concern and challenge that was posed.  Another consideration was that the medical billing within EMR was accurate (Thakkar & Davis, 2007).  Patient privacy is an on-going concern.  Ensuring that there are measures to not only keep hackers out of an electronic system, but also identifying that patient’s information is on a ‘need to know’ basis.     

            A potential benefit to EMR is that a patient’s chart can be traced.  This trace can provide the username of the person who has accessed it.  An equal potential risk within this, is that users must be extremely vigilant with passwords and locking computers.  Otherwise, someone else can log into, and/or access a patient’s chart using someone else’s information.

             Healthcare technology trends I believe to be most promising for impacting healthcare technology in nursing practice are Patient Portals.  Although this trend is not something that’s been newly offered, I believe that with COVID-19, it may be used more.  The use of a patient portal can improve patient outcomes by having a direct non-emergent line of communication with a patient’s nurse (OpenEMR, 2020).  This can be utilized for questions, appointments, medication refills, care plans, and even triage advise.  This correspondence will be electronically.  Therefore, any communication will be done in writing.  This can aid within miscommunication and easy recall for both the nurse and patient.

References

Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services. (2012, March 26). Electronic Health Records. CMS.gov. Retrieved July 5, 2020, from

https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/E-Health/EHealthRecords

OpenEMR. (2020, June 6). Patient Portal. Retrieved July 5, 2020, from

https://www.open-emr.org/wiki/index.php/Patient_Portal

Thakkar, M., & Davis, D. C., PhD. (2007). Risks, Barriers, and Benefits of EHR Systems: A Comparative Study Based on Size of Hospital. Perspectives

          Health Information Management. Retrieved July 5, 2020, from

https://perspectives.ahima.org/risks-barriers-and-benefits-of-ehr-systems-a-comparative-study-based-on-size-of-hospital/

Vanderpool, D. (2015). Ehr documentation: How to keep your patients safe, keep your hard-earned money, and stay out of court. PubMed Central

          (PMC). Retrieved July 5, 2020, from

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4558790/