Introduction
The healthcare sector deals with human life and hence quality in service delivery is of uttermost importance. Stakeholders in this field have embraced the use of various clinical systems for easy operations and better patient outcomes. Improvement in technology has helped the health sector in advancing its procedures especially the communication between clinicians and patients. Electronic health records, patients’ portal, mobile applications, and telehealth are among the approaches utilized by medics to simplify patient care. This paper intends to review the literature on various clinical systems used by nurses and doctors and their impact on outcomes and efficiencies.
Literature Review
Karp, E. L., Freeman, R., Simpson, K. N., & Simpson, A. N. (2019). Changes in efficiency and quality of nursing electronic health record documentation after implementation of an admission patient history essential data set. CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing, 37(5), 260-265.
The authors, Karp, Freeman, Simpson, and Simpson assessed if the electronic medical data system timers and incident logs could evaluate the proficiency and value of clinical procedures in the electric information structure. The researchers utilized before and after-test study approach and introduced a freshly formulated admission process of acquiring past essential data. The investigators then inspected the electronic medicinal experience documents and timers on the nurses’ opinion from a productivity and quality perception. The examiners gauged the effectiveness by quantifying the time and clicks needed to finalize the admission procedure. The outcome showed the time spent detailing the admission of the patient’s history declined by 72% from before mediation to the after-intermediation evaluation. The number of clicks reduced by 76% from before to post timers. Additionally, the result showed that capture of vital information advanced by approximately 6%, and admission patient prior information compilation in one category improved by 24%.
These outcomes reveal that the timers and incidence logs help evaluate the proficiency of electronic health recording systems. The findings have also shown that the timers put on the EHR improve the efficiency of service delivery and reduce time wastage hence making patients satisfied with the time used to serve them. These findings are supported by other researchers such as Uddin et al., (2017) who investigated and found that the utilization of a visual countdown timer helped in time management in the operating room.
Dykes, P. C., Rozenblum, R., Dalal, A., Massaro, A., Chang, F., Clements, M., Collins, S., Donze, J., Fagan, M., Gazarian, P., Hanna, J., Lehmann, L., Leone, K., Lipsitz, S., Mcnally, K., Morrison, C., Samal, L., Mlaver, E., Schnock, K., & Bates, D. W. (2017). Prospective evaluation of a multifaceted intervention to improve outcomes in intensive care: The promoting respect and ongoing safety through patient engagement communication and technology study. Critical care medicine, 45(8), e806-e813.
The researchers, Dykes, and others investigated the usefulness of client-focused care and involvement initiatives in ICU. The scholars conducted the study in treatment ICUs at a big medical facility. The authors assessed various platforms used in the facility including structured person-emphasized care and training programs, the ICU safety checklist, the patient’s portal, and the patient-clinician messaging platform. The findings indicated that the platforms enhanced patient care and service delivery. For instance, patients and care partners were able to view facts about their illness through the portals, partake in the care strategy, and interconnect efficiently with their care providers.
This study has shown that the implementation of various well-formulated communication channels and patient involvement initiatives in the ICU was linked with a less negative incidences and enhanced consumer and care companion contentment. These findings can be supported by various researchers such as Chichirez and Purcărea, (2018); Ratna (2019); Sirajuddin et al., (2022), who agree that better information delivery approaches improve healthcare outcomes and efficiencies.
Han, H., Gleason, K. T., Sun, C., Miller, H. N., Kang, S. J., Chow, S., Anderson, R., Nagy, P. & Bauer, T. (2019). Using patient portals to improve patient outcomes: A systematic review. JMIR human factors, 6(4), e15038.
Han, et al., (2019) assessed the effect of the consumer portal on healthcare outcomes. The scholar did searches in three electronic platforms, comprising PubMed, EMBASE, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and overall, twenty-four articles were applicable. The researchers found that a good number of the portal were used to provide educational materials and resources associated with patients’ health conditions. The results further discovered that the patient portal mediations improved psychobehavioral outcomes like health knowledge, self-efficacy, decision making, treatment observance, and protective care.
These findings have revealed that patient portal interventions are effective in enhancing mental outcomes, treatment adherence, and observing preventive measures. These results imply that patients that use the platforms to acquire information are healthier than those who do not. There are other scholars such as Dendere et al., (2019); Gerard et al., (2018); Ammenwerth, (2019) who support the finding that the patients’ portal is vital for data provision. These studies are a confirmation that the importance of the patients’ portal in health cannot and should not be ignored.
Perez-Jover, V., Sala-González, M., Guilabert, M., & Mira, J. J. (2019). Mobile apps for increasing treatment adherence: Systematic review. Journal of medical Internet research, 21(6), e12505.
Perez-Jover et al., (2019) analyzed whether mobile applications were valuable in handling prescription at home and if they enhance treatment adherence and their clients. The researchers did a methodical analysis of studies printed by utilizing Scopus, Cochrane Library, ProQuest, as well as MEDLINE databanks and scrutinized the data on their impact on improved treatment adherence and the perceived helpfulness of mobile platforms. The studies surveyed affirmed that mobile applications were effective in medication observance. Patients reported that the applications were easy to utilize and very useful for reminding them of the right time to take their medicines, the patients’ satisfaction was 8 out of 10.
The findings of this study imply that mobile phones are gradually being incorporated into the health care system and they are greatly helping control the forgetfulness to take medicine on time. The devices increase adherence by between 7-40% and this means many people who forgot their treatment or doctor’s appointment before the app is in a better place after using the platform. These findings can be supported by the outcomes of other researchers like Al-Arkee et al., (2021); Abu-El-Noor et al., (2021); Park et al., (2019) who have also established that mobile apps are used to enhance treatment adherence. These findings reveal that mobile technology is one of the new approaches to improving health care delivery.
Conclusion
The articles reviewed have reviewed that there are various medical structures adopted within healthcare sectors to enhance results as well as competences. The first article demonstrated that electronic health record timers were used in augmenting efficiency in the registration of patients. The second investigation discovered that structured patient-focused care and training programs, the ICU safety checklist, patient’s portal, and patient-clinician messaging platform were utilized to provide patients with information and advance patient-clinician communication. The third study revealed that customer portals were utilized by hospitals to talk with their patients and offer them vital information. The last, survey showed that doctors set up a mobile application for their patients and this helped with medication adherence. These articles have shown that clinical systems are important in promoting better healthcare outcomes and efficiencies. The review has also revealed that adopting technology will go a long way in assisting medics to deliver quality services to their consumers.
References
Abu-El-Noor, N. I., Aljeesh, Y. I., Bottcher, B., & Abu-El-Noor, M. K. (2021). Impact of a mobile phone app on adherence to treatment regimens among hypertensive patients: A randomized clinical trial study. European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, 20(5), 428-435. Web.
Al-Arkee, S., Mason, J., Lane, D. A., Fabritz, L., Chua, W., Haque, M. S., & Jalal, Z. (2021). Mobile apps to improve medication adherence in cardiovascular disease: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of medical Internet research, 23(5), e24190. Web.
Ammenwerth, E., Hoerbst, A., Lannig, S., Mueller, G., Siebert, U., & Schnell-Inderst, P. (2019). Effects of adult patient portals on patient empowerment and health-related outcomes: A systematic review. MEDINFO 2019: Health and Wellbeing e-Networks for All, 1106-1110. Web.
Chichirez, C. M., & Purcărea, V. L. (2018). Interpersonal communication in healthcare. Journal of medicine and life, 11(2), 119. Web.
Dendere, R., Slade, C., Burton-Jones, A., Sullivan, C., Staib, A., & Janda, M. (2019). Patient portals facilitating engagement with inpatient electronic medical records: A systematic review. Journal of medical Internet research, 21(4), e12779. Web.
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Park, J. Y. E., Li, J., Howren, A., Tsao, N. W., & De Vera, M. (2019). Mobile phone apps targeting medication adherence: Quality assessment and content analysis of user reviews. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 7(1), e11919. Web.
Ratna, H. (2019). The importance of effective communication in healthcare practice. Harvard Public Health Review, 23, 1-6. Web.
Sirajuddin, M., Rupa, C., Bhatia, S., Thakur, R. N., & Mashat, A. (2022). Hybrid cryptographic scheme for secure communication in mobile ad hoc network-based e-healthcare system. Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing, 2022. Web.
Uddin, M., Allen, R., Huynh, N., Vidal, J. M., Taaffe, K. M., Fredendall, L. D., & Greenstein, J. S. (2017). Effectiveness of a countdown timer in reducing or turnover time. Journal of Mobile Technology in Medicine, 6(3), 25-33. Web.