Before this presentation I never really thought about the idea that people’s medical records are all available electronically. When it comes to nursing, I think having the patient’s Electronic Health Records makes the job of the nurse slightly easier. Especially when it comes to doing an admission. A nurse is responsible for asking a new patient about the patient’s past medical history or surgical history on the patient and having the electronic health record allows the nurse to see if there have been any changes among admissions. I think that accessing these records makes it easier for the nurse to give the best care possible for their patient as well. Having that complete health history and previous care plans can help the nurse to be able what to know what the patient’s baseline is or what interventions worked for the patient in the past. Looking back at the history of the HIE, it has made a lot of progress in making sure that it is expanding to more and more places. This allows for more nurses and providers to be able to access and update patient’s health records, update any changes to the care plan following discharge and avoiding readmittance.
When it comes to my practice as a nurse, I will use the information we learned in the presentation to make sure I am keeping the patient’s medical record as up to date as possible. Again, I think this will also allow me to make sure I am giving the patient the best possible care I can. I think knowing the importance of keeping a patient’s medical record up to date as possible will make sure that I am charting everything I need to. The electronic health record is a very useful tool that benefits not just the nurse or other health care providers, but the patient as well.
