Nurses recognize and respect the intrinsic worth of each person (CNA, 2007). The most direct purpose of EHRs is to enhance the quality of care delivered by health care professionals in the context of a specific encounter with a patient. Typical example situations include, patients in emergency situations, patients requiring remote access to specialized care because they live in rural areas, patients requiring medical care while traveling far from home or patients requiring complex regimens of care from multiple professionals, with potential for confounding treatments or adverse drug effects (Kosseim, Patricia, 2005).
An electronic health record system needs to assure users that it can adequately protect their information. It also seems that the average individual is not well-informed about the basics of EHRs. The public may require extensive education regarding the benefits and downfalls of electronic health records prior to their widespread adoption. It is in best interest of everyone involved to have accurate complete information. You have to ask yourself, who will be locating your health records? Are you comfortable with who are looking at your personal health record? These are some of the concerns of the community consumers with the proposal of the electronic health record. Currently patients continue to have a high level of trust for their family physician, which in turn gives them the comfort necessary to reveal personal and sensitive information (McAllister, Mike, 2006). However, not all consumers have this positive outcome as they do not all have family physicians. As health care leaders commence the transition from paper to electronic records, it is imperative to maintain the trust and preserve the dignity of the patient, with or without their comfort of a family physician.
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A concern I have dealing with patient's EHR and protection of information pertains to the increase in the number of family health centres and community health teams. Typically, there are many diverse professional backgrounds working at these centres from therapists, to nutrionists, dietitians, health promoters and community service workers. Some of these professions may or may not be regulated or licenced yet staff have access to EHR's...Are patients comfortable with equal access to information from a community health team perspective? Do all professionals on the team need access to EHR's? Does more access increase patient quality of care?
ReplyDeleteAlthough patients may have a high level of trust with their family physician, the same level of trust may not apply to other professional backgrounds...the public should be educated on who has access to their EHR
Laura