Introduction
Different healthcare organizations are embracing electronic health records (EHR) considering the present fast-moving technological world. Institutions are using technology to make their work effective and efficient, and the healthcare societies are equally traversing to ensure they improve the patient experiences as a way of enhancing satisfaction. Denotatively, electronic health records (EHR) are the electronic version of the medical history of patients, maintained over time and including medications, problems, notes, progress, and demographics of clients (Yüksel et al., 2017). EMR have significantly improved healthcare and awareness of patients’ conditions. However, if they happen to experience technical issues, their convenience becomes a fatal flaw. Electronic health records system has its flaws that are impacting its effective performance. The anticipated results of embracing technology in healthcare are not often realized because of the different obstacles from the system itself, the users, and even other external influences, including hacking. Therefore, while electronic medical records are proven to be beneficial for the health system, they still present several issues that may hinder its functionality.
Main body
Notably, electronic medical records have issues related to their safety and usability, both of which may cause colossal harm to patients. According to Howe et al. (2018), doctors may find it difficult to input and view information. There are chances that a computer shows false alerts that mislead doctors. Arguably, untruthful alerts often make doctors administer wrong medications and subsequent treatments to patients, hence worsening their health conditions. Moreover, there are incidences of incorrect data display, whereby the doctor mistakenly administers double-treatment. For instance, the doctor on shift might forget to update the system regarding the administration that he has offered to the patient, hence misleading the medic in the next shift leading to an overdose. Yüksel et al. (2017) add that the use of electronic medical records is equally linked with privacy issues, as a patient’s data can be shared among many people. For instance, hackers can obtain the patient’s personal information and use it to do different criminal offences. Connectedly, e-health records pose a significant challenge to the usability and safety, hence causing harm to the patient apart from putting the details of patients at risk.
Electronic medical records increase the operating costs of different healthcare institutions. According to Girosi et al. (2005), technological health information makes a Medicare organization to spend more money in maintaining the different devices that facilitate the adequate availability of patient’s information. For instance, hospitals spend more resources keeping the servers safe from any hacking. Maintenance involves regular checkup on the functionality of the different servers and replacing other critical requirements to boost efficiency. Girosi et al. (2005) further mention that medical centers spend considerable amounts in hiring information technology (IT) experts who ensure that the servers and functionality of the technical system are significant. It is prudent noting that an organization spends part of its budget paying salaries to the IT employees. They equally make an effort of preventing the patients’ information from being available to the hackers, whereby detecting any attempts in time and averting them. Arguably, the employment of IT technicians depends on the size of the organization and its financial capacity. Thus, the e-health system for keeping patient details increases the operating costs of a healthcare institution.
The installation costs are high when a healthcare institution wants to adapt the electronic keeping of patients’ health records. Walker et al. (2005) depict that implementing the EHR platform costs an organization a great fortune. Installing servers is the biggest challenge that is making it difficult for healthcare centers to embrace the EMR system. It is at this point that Ammenwerth et al. (2014) add that in case of a breakdown, an organization faces vast losses, considering that it might be hard to rectify the system flaws. Sometimes, malfunctioning means that the organization has to look for means to implement a new technological platform, hence being expensive for any healthcare facility. The purchasing of the hardware and software is quite expensive for low-to-middle-income organizations to afford, giving way for the prosperous organizations only. According to Walker et al. (2005), installing the software requires a healthcare center to have approximately 22,038 dollars. Reflectively, an upcoming Medicare might find it hectic and struggle financially establishing another system. Significantly, the installation of an EHR system is costly, and an association can incur losses to install another system after failure of the first installation.
Installing the electronic health records keeping system increases disruption of the regular work-flow among the healthcare providers. Hörbst et al. (2014) state that installing an EHR takes most of the practitioners’ time, considering the regular training regarding how to use the different technological devices and accessing the patient’s information, among many others. Hörbst et al. (2014) further argue that the training that doctors attend to know how to use the technology consumes much of their time that they could have taken to treat patients. Sometimes, the e-health takes much attention of the healthcare workers, whereby they have to concentrate so much to on keeping the documents of the patients effectively as opposed to attending to the patients’ needs. Healthcare practitioners spend most of their time on ensuring system efficiency, including making sure that the patient’s information is correctly captured rather than taking their time working on patient treatment. In other words, electronic health records paralyze patient attendance in the hospital. Holistically, EHR leads to disruption of the regular work-flow of the healthcare professionals, whereby they concentrate on understanding how the system works and other related mastery and other related mastery.
The electronic formula for keeping medical records retrogressively increases the level of dependence on technology. According to Eisenberg et al. (2011), the electronic recording of different patient information makes the healthcare practitioners over depend on technology. In technological fault cases, the personnel cannot develop a solution that can lead to the treatment of the patient. In most cases, doctors have to understand the historical background of the patient’s disease in the computer records, directing them on the exact treatment options that are available for the client. Eisenberg et al. (2011) further outline that full dependency on technology contributes to the high mortality rates throughout the world. For instance, when the hospital system fails, the practitioners find it hard to develop an alternative strategy that can lead to the effective treatment of the patients. Doctors have to wait for the IT experts to work on the flaws. Interpretatively, patients will succumb due to medical non-attendance, a sign of putting the lives of the sick in danger. Thus, EHR has the hazardous potential of increasing the dependency levels of practitioners on the system, causing havoc in case of failure.
Distinctively, if the problems experienced by embracing the electronic medical records are not addressed soon and solved, they might affect the future of the healthcare field. (Eisenberg & Margulis, 2011) opine that technical problems among the ever-present digitalization process will only lead to more victims among patients. Arguably, the healthcare system’s future is predicted to continue embracing technology in all aspects. It means that all the healthcare aspects, including making a recovery plan will be through technology, whereby doctors coach the discharged doctors regarding the different lifestyles to grip. Also, unresolved security issues might make patients vary from doctors and reluctant to attend a medical organization (Dombrowski & Kostev, 2017). For instance, embracing technology can make doctors address a different patient, mistakenly. As a result, the doctor teaches the patient on different issues that are irrelevant to their health condition. Instead of educating the client regarding how to curb cholesterol, they wrongly advise how to manage obesity. The trust of the patient deteriorates towards the healthcare institution and specific doctors, leading to the downfall of the organization. Thus, the technical problems are likely to affect the healthcare field’s future.
However, solutions exist and might be implemented step by step. As Ratwani et al. (2018) allude, usability problems can be resolved during the testing phase or using leapfrog. Healthcare institutions should make an effort to embrace new and latest technologies, considering they have multiple opportunities and benefits. For instance, emerging technologies have low breakdown rates apart from being faster. Old and other ancient technological devices often hang and incur other forms of buffering that might confuse the user. Using the newest technologies will ensure that nurses store patient’s information safely, reducing the chances of hacking. Equally, Yüksel et al. (2017) mention that encrypting data and anonymity seem to be some of the approaches to ensure safety. The healthcare personnel with authorization are the only ones that will have the capacity to access the information because they have a password. Turning patient’s information to ciphertext is the ultimate solution that can assure clients that their profiles are safe and secured from any form of external manipulation. Hence, it is worth noting that if the problems facing EHR are not addressed soon, they might affect the future of the healthcare profession.
Furthermore, having backups, including traditional medical records, might be an overarching solution to technical issues and their sequences within the healthcare setting. Dombrowski and Kostev (2017) reiterate that incorporating the ancient healthcare records acts as a backup when the EHR fails. Sometimes, there are instances that computers fail to function appropriately, hence record books help to make the patient information available throughout. Doubted information can be confirmed from the files to get clarity and accuracy regarding the patient’s health. In other words, the traditional health records ensure that the information of the client remains intact, and the treatment process continues even when there is a technical breakdown. Equally, traditional medical records cannot cause confusion among practitioners since the doctor has the exact details of the patient (Dombrowski & Kostev, 2017). As mentioned above, a computer can develop an era and malfunction, portraying the information of another patient on the interface or profile of another, subsequently leading to misperception. The non-electronic data storage methods are effective, considering that error incidences are reduced. Therefore, having traditional medical records as backups is a critical solution that can boost effective healthcare services delivery.
On the other hand, electronic medical records are crucial because they aid in furthering medical studies. According to Dombrowski and Kostev (2017), the electronic patient records help health practitioners to understand the disease that affects the population mostly quickly. As a result, nurses can decide to conduct research, hence understanding the authenticity of the disease. Afterwards, healthcare professionals can conduct objective studies regarding the diverse approaches which the patients can embrace through civic education to ensure adequate disease prevention, ensuring health promotion within the population. Notwithstanding, it is paramount to note that e-health model of recording patients’ information can ensure that researchers comprehend the disease affecting most people within a population, hence studying the prevention options available.
Conclusion
In conclusion, despite the electronic health records system seeming beneficial, it has its unique flaws that hinder functionality. It might be considerate not to rely on electronic medical records excessively as of now, as the time it takes to resolve all issues completely will equally affect patients’ well-being. The installation and implementation of EHR are expensive compared to the use of traditional information recording systems. A healthcare center incurs exceptionally high costs of production considering that it has to maintain the system frequently, hence deciding to employ IT, experts. It can lead to treatment errors, whereby doctors administer wrong prescriptions mistakenly, due to the wrong information that the system portrays. The platform affects the normal work-flow among the healthcare experts in an organization because of the regular training regarding how to use the system. Hitherto, there are several means through which electronic health records can be incorporated in the healthcare system effectively. Institutions should embrace leapfrog, whereby they embrace the highest technological levels to get excellent results in return and top-notch recovery or backup options. Also, hospitals can adapt the traditional medical records as a surplus alternative to EHR.
References
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