Policy and Guidelines for the Informatics Staff: Making Decisions to Use Informatics System

One of the most used Electronic Health Records (EHR) tools utilized and discussed in this project is Electronic Treatment Administration (eTAR). Electronic health records involve everything from patient data collection to distribution by utilizing digital technology. 

Functions

The following are some functions of Electronic Treatment Administration (eTAR):

• It is a convenient tool for both Electronic Medication and Treatment administration. 
• It assists in documenting medication and treatment administration effectively (McConeghy et al., 2021). 
• It is used to maintain the accuracy of the healthcare sector. 
• The documentation of doses, treatment, and surgical/non-surgical procedures is kept up to date. 
• Issues alert for nurses regarding the vital assessment of patients. Electronic Care Flow Sheets are maintained (Kataria and Ravindran, 2020).

NURS FPX 6412 Assessment 1 Policy and Guidelines for the Informatics Staff: Making Decisions to Use Informatics Systems in Practice

Evaluation of Function of Tool Related to Evidence-Based Practice

The eTAR is utilized specifically to enhance nurse service by employing paperless electronic care strategies. It is documented to be used both for acute and post-acute patient care. Initially, it prepares a list of residents utilizing treatment sessions based on their geographical location, pass time, and route of administration. It then creates e-charts of patients accordingly. This e-charting contains all kinds of patient information. It also has the treatments patients have received. In case the patient has no history of medication, PRN (pro re nata) is selected as an option while documenting (Li et al.,2021) There are separate checkboxes for each treatment or medication administered. There are checkboxes to determine the efficiency of patient-specific effects. For each treatment order fulfilled, a checkbox is filled. This also issues a reminder for the times the vitals require to be checked and administered. If the medication issued for a patient is not sufficient, then a reorder button is requested to convey the order. This same routine is followed for each patient involved. At the end of the respective session, a summary page can be requested to be issued with statistics which include start, end, elapsed time, PRN orders, totals of residents, delivered medications and treatments, and if any instruction is not followed (Ludwikowska, 2018).

Guidelines Reflecting Analysis of Work Setting

The healthcare system issued through eTAR legitimizes the patient experience and documents it to avoid any discrepancies in the process. It also keeps patients’ healthcare updates safe from any human error. These human errors can range from registering patient credentials, their health condition, and updates. It also includes the medication route followed by care providers, any surgical, and non-surgical procedures, and expected and implied outcomes. It also makes it easy for healthcare providers to issue documentation against any medical and surgical order which is not fulfilled. It is for all the orders which are either not fulfilled, late, held, or PRN. These notes ultimately become a part of the resident’s EHR. It makes the care provision easy for nurses and keeps direct interaction with doctors (Quinn et al., 2019)

eTAR Supporting Strategic Plan

The eTAR contributes extensively to the strategic planning of effective patient care issues. The primary purpose of strategic planning is to ensure patient safety. eTAR communicates the registered data in its gadgets to maintain automation and effectiveness (Robertson et al., 2019). The new orders are then prioritized and given a 72-hour deadline to be fulfilled. For it, NetSolutions Clinical decisions software is installed. It is an effective tool that provides patients verification that their data is stored in a valid platform. The patients have also confirmed the authority of their respective data and ensured that their data will not be shared with anyone without their authorization. They can also easily access the rights to every treatment they ever went through. Clinical Decision Support (CDS) helps improve the care quality provided to care providers with validated data they could utilize to make their care provision more effective. 

Assessment of Workflow to Maximize Efficiency

Although eTAR is a digitized collection of data which itself makes the care provision effective it has other features making the process convenient. In it, quick links are offered for navigation to the eCharting session. It overshadows the recaps offered every month to keep current orders upfront. It multiplies security by offering two-step verification to access patient data. It offers an easier interface to access and utilize patient data effectively. It puts relevant information like drug information, clinical teaching, and Black Box warnings at the time of installation of software. It puts a flag on the medication treatment to maintain an effective review of the patient’s vitals. It issues alerts for the times vitals need to be reviewed. It ensures that the latest requirements or PRN are displayed for the first 72 hours so that they could be prioritized. Incorporates barcoding to safely keep relevant patient data (Tapuria et al., 2021). All these things are specifically incorporated to improve efficiency as they try to make the process automated and easy to be accessed for the patients. It also makes the multidisciplinary task description of nurses easy by issuing alerts for patient updates, vital checks, medication maintenance, and surgical and non-surgical process maintenance. It keeps every activity of nurses in check which have the potential for human errors. 

NURS FPX 6412 Assessment 1 Policy and Guidelines for the Informatics Staff: Making Decisions to Use Informatics Systems in Practice

eTAR Contribution to Inter-Professional Care

The eTAR maintains access to patient information to maintain coordinated interprofessional collaborative patient practice (ICP). Although the common perception of EHR is the introduced collaboration between in-team communication, eTAR and eMAR are the tools that aid EHR in enhancing these inter-professional care prospects effectively. It enhances and validates the competencies of role /responsibilities and interprofessional communications to improve patient satisfaction. Generally, in healthcare institutes, interprofessional teams are appointed to maintain an effective flow of patient care. The eTAR aids the interprofessional team in not only documenting, and maintaining effective communication between the interdisciplinary team of nurse informatics and physicians as well as validates whether effective care is provided to the patient or not. Its efficiency is examined through Clinical Interprofessional Communication Spaces (MCICS) (Quinn et al., 2019). Its reports are issued side by side like Late orders, PRN results, Upcoming medicines, Correction Reports, Descriptive Test Results, Resident Barcodes, and others to keep the entire team in the loop. 

Conclusion

This research considers eTAR as an effective EHR tool to maintain patient data up to date. It also keeps the patient medication, surgical and non-surgical routes, and health updates to enhance patient safety. It also issues barcodes and other verification methods to keep patient data safe. It authorizes patients to access their data conveniently. It also issued reminders of patients’ regular checkups and medication updates to improve performance.

References

Kataria, S., & Ravindran, V. (2020). Electronic health records: A critical appraisal of strengths and limitations. Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, 50(3), 262–268. https://doi.org/10.4997/jrcpe.2020.309 

Li, E., Clarke, J., Neves, A. L., Ashrafian, H., & Darzi, A. (2021). Electronic Health Records, Interoperability and Patient Safety in Health Systems of High-income Countries: A Systematic Review Protocol. BMJ Open, 11(7), e044941. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-044941 

‌Ludwikowska, K. (2018). Evidence-based training approach in organizational practice. Modern Management Review. https://doi.org/10.7862/rz.2018.mmr.48 

McConeghy, K. W., Cinque, M., White, E. M., Feifer, R. A., Blackman, C., Mor, V., Gravenstein, S., & Zullo, A. R. (2021). Lessons for deprescribing from a nonessential medication hold policy in US nursing homes. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 70(2), 429–438. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.17512 

Quinn, M., Forman, J., Harrod, M., Winter, S., Fowler, K. E., Krein, S. L., Gupta, A., Saint, S., Singh, H., & Chopra, V. (2019). Electronic health records, communication, and data sharing: Challenges and opportunities for improving the diagnostic process. Diagnosis, 6(3), 241–248. https://doi.org/10.1515/dx-2018-0036‌

NURS FPX 6412 Assessment 1 Policy and Guidelines for the Informatics Staff: Making Decisions to Use Informatics Systems in Practice

Robertson, B., McDermott, C., Star, J., Lewin, L. O., & Spell, N. (2020). Synchronous virtual interprofessional education focused on discharge planning. Journal of Interprofessional Education & Practice, 100388. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xjep.2020.100388‌ 

Tapuria, A., Porat, T., Kalra, D., Dsouza, G., Xiaohui, S., & Curcin, V. (2021). Impact of patient access to their electronic health record: Systematic review. Informatics for Health and Social Care, 46(2), 194–206. https://doi.org/10.1080/17538157.2021.1879810 

Appendix A Policy

The proposed technology of eTAR utilized in the healthcare policy is explained

Overview

The interdisciplinary team involved is trained about the background and utility of eTAR effectively. As this is significantly new and convenient, the interaction of the team with this technology would effectively be fruitful. If this tool is introduced and implied as a strategy, the overall workload of healthcare providers would be lessened. 

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to improve the quality of healthcare services provided to patients. It also intends to make the job responsibilities of healthcare providers easy and also limits the possibility of human errors. Introducing the healthcare world to the technological world, the landscape of healthcare is revolutionized. Improved data collection, distribution, utilization, and automation of healthcare services are the primary outcomes. This policy is well-suited for all the service providers who are a part of interdisciplinary healthcare teams respectively (Quinn et al., 2019). 

Responsibility

• Manage training sessions for eTAR advancements for interdisciplinary healthcare teams. 
• Trained technical staff was appointed to maintain the smooth and updated efficiency of eTAR.
• In the appointed teams to perform and utilize eTAR effectively, not only nurses but physicians and administrative staff were also appointed.

Guidelines

Under the proper guidance of foreign policy, extended policies explaining eTAR were established. These policies were not only used to improve the performance of eTAR but also to promote its usage across healthcare sectors globally. Reducing the possibility of medical errors, improving patient safety, and documenting patient health outcomes are the benefits determined by this technology. 

The guidelines for eTAR which require to be necessarily followed are: 

• Learn the basics of computers and technology. 
• Ensure the sufficient availability of internet speed.
• Adhere to patient safety and privacy rules while documenting and accessing patient data.
• Ensure proper patient history before documenting, needless to say before transferring.
• Acquire all the backup information about the drug and services the patient needs or would utilize before implementation. 
• The end-users will sustain the changes and implement the policies. 
• Review timelines before verifying reminders for drugs and procedures. 
• Ensure patient satisfaction by maintaining effective communication.
• Review the portal for any digital glitches.