Leveraging Quality and Safety Measures with Communication Technologies
Safety Measures with Communication Technologies
Communication technologies
Smartphones and tablets
In today’s digital environment, people are invariably fascinated by the advancement of technology. The use of smartphones and tablets in healthcare has become so common thus ensuring patient care and as technology is advancing the use of smartphones and tablets in health care increases. Due to the smartphone and tablet technology, there has been a great improvement in access to healthcare information among nurses and patients. For instance, patients can better understand the impact of their condition and illness while nurses can gather information about a particular condition or illness so as to provide better healthcare services. Smartphones and tablets technology facilitates better cooperation among nurses, improved communication between patients and nurses, and better accessibility to electronic health records (EHRs).
The most prevalent use of smartphones and tablets in healthcare is to ensure there is maximum coordination between caregivers and their patients through secure messaging. For data security, a push HIPAA compliant software was developed. Its features prove to be more secure than the ones in the already existing messaging and calling applications (Gill, Kamath &Gill, 2012). This software presents a platform where physicians and the patients can teleconference, text, call each other, and share their screens. This makes it easy to create patients portals, get in contact with the patients no matter the distance between them through messaging, and administer health-related services to the patients. Smartphone and tablet technology has improved the healthcare system a great deal because, through smartphones and tablets, the physicians are able to contact patients despite the long distance between them, treat them, advise them accordingly and monitor their improvements. The digital transformation improves the management of chronic illnesses as there are reminders for the patients to stick to their appointments and maintain healthy lifestyles for better health. (Rickart& Brotherton, 2017)
Use of smartphones and tablets in improving communication among healthcare team
In a healthcare setting, communication is one of the most important tools for improving patients’ satisfaction and providing the best patient care. This is because constant communication between the physician and the patient will help the physician monitor the condition of the patient and provide the best care for them. In many healthcare settings, outdated technology is used where the patients’ records are written on papers and kept in files. Smartphone and tablet technology would be of great help in effective communication since all the information about a patient will be accessed easily from the information systems. Administrators must be trained on how to use the healthcare systems properly so that the data they record is accurate. This reduces the chances of medical errors such as incorrect dosages. When taking into consideration the importance of communication in critical care settings, patient safety is the top priority. It might be communication between doctors discussing how to treat a patient or communication between a physician and the patient. Communication errors have been the leading cause of death of the patients. Better communication would benefit both the patients and their healthcare providers. Use of smartphones and tablets provides efficient communication through messaging of the concerned professionals and instant replies to the patients thereby preventing patient deaths brought about by communication errors (Van Dusen, 2017)
Impact of smartphones and tablets in patient outcomes
In a traditional healthcare setting, there is poor management of acute and chronic illnesses. For instance, when a patient with acute conditions is discharged from the hospital, he/ she is given medicine prescription, guided on healthy practices, and given appointment dates. There is no way for the nurse to monitor whether the patient has understood the instructions and there is no way to follow up on the patients’ improvement. Smartphones and tablets have improved the management of acute illnesses (Rickart & Brotherton, 2017). There is impressive improvement now that the doctors can now check up on their patients, and provide specialized care for the patients who are in critical condition. It is now easy for doctors to know whether the patient has understood the instructions and monitor whether the patient is following them. This reduces the reoccurrence of the disease and the issues of death due to miscommunication are easily fixed.
In the past, healthcare providers had limited access to their patients’ information. There was no way to share patients’ information with different facilities and this made it hard to discuss with other doctors on the best way to treat a certain disease. It was even hard to access clinical records and track health improvements of patients. According to Gill, Kamath & Gill (2017), healthcare organizations have now embraced the use of smartphones, tablets, and wearable devices in the provision of effective treatment to the patients. Doctors can now talk to patients directly and follow up on their improvement. They can also advise them regarding their health conditions. This has improved the day to day operating efficiency of the healthcare systems. Through these advancements of technology, healthcare providers can teach family members on different aspects of patient care so that they are able to handle cases where seeing the doctor is not very crucial.
EMR
The electronic medical records is a systemized collection of patient data stored in electronic form. These records include medical history, lab results, billing information, and even personal statistics such as age. These records have been touted as a key to improve care as the doctors can now track patients’ data and share it with other medical providers. It is now easier because the information is recorded in an information system and it is made available internationally. Also, it is easy to identify stratify chronically ill patients and give them the attention they require. Patients can now receive medical advice from the comfort of their homes with guidance from their physicians. EMRs have been designed to improve the accessibility of the patients’ information. The superiority of the EMRs is proved because the records can be shared universally. Meaning, once the information is entered into the system, it can be accessed from any healthcare setting using the EMR software. There is no need of taking the records whenever the patient visits a healthcare facility.
Use of EMRs in improving communication among healthcare teams
Elderly people and people with chronic illnesses have to go for checkups frequently and during these processes, they might meet different healthcare providers. They might also visit different healthcare facilities for laboratory tests and x-rays. Effective communication in this instance is important for patients’ security. The availability of such patients’ information is important so that any doctor is able to give them the correct treatment. The sharing of the patients’ information in various institutions is vital and EMRs have made it possible. Physicians can access medical records and share relevant information with other physicians as well. For emergency cases, the physicians are notified and they are kept up to date (Bennett, 2015)
How EMRs have impacted patients’ outcome
EMRs have ensured that family members play an active role in monitoring the healthcare of their patients (Huang, 2014). The clinical records for most of the hospital visits are taken and sent to patients within three working days so that they are aware of their conditions and they know how to take good care of themselves
The records taken include treatment and medication, care provided during the visits, appointment dates, and medical advice. This ensures that the patients are well taken care of and they attend all the crucial appointments. With smartphones and tablets, the patients can access articles and videos that will help them with their healthcare situations. With the easy accessibility to this information, patients can now make informed decisions on which direction they should take to improve their health (Huang, 2014).
In the event a patient needs to change the physician they visit, the new physician will be able to access all the information about their new patient and get to understand their medical history. This will see that the patient receive the correct treatment no matter which hospital they visit. The clinical records will be shared between the previous healthcare provider and the current one (Bennett, 2015).
References
Bennett, E. (2015). The Intra/Inter-Operability in Healthcare: The Implementation of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) with the Ultimate Goal of an Electronic Healthcare Record (EHR)?. Pharmacy & Pharmacology International Journal, 2(1). doi: 10.15406/ppij.2015.02.00009
Gill, P., Kamath, A., & Gill, T. (2012). Distraction: an assessment of smartphone usage in health care work settings. Risk Management And Healthcare Policy, 105. doi: 10.2147/rmhp.s34813
Huang, C. (2014). Exploration and Exploitation with Electronic Medical Record: Information Technology Enabled Organizational Learning in Healthcare. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.2376640
Lin, Y., Lin, M., & Chen, H. (2019). Do Electronic Health Records Affect Quality of Care? Evidence from the HITECH Act. Information Systems Research, 30(1), 306-318. doi: 10.1287/isre.2018.0813
Rickart, A., & Brotherton, P. (2017). Positive use of smartphone media in the pediatric emergency department. Oral Surgery, 10(3), 184-185. doi: 10.1111/ors.12247
VanDusen, K. (2017). Calling on smartphones to enhance patient care. Nursing, 47(11), 1-2. doi: 10.1097/01.nurse.0000525993.44109.f9