Communication is an important factor in determining patient outcomes, patient experiences, and healthcare costs, both positively and negatively. In fact, communication breakdown accounts for two thirds of sentinel events, the most serious of errors reported to the Joint Commission, making it the leading cause of medical errors (Starmer et al., 2014). The Institute of Medicine (1999) conservatively estimates that between 44,000 and 98,000 patients die each year from medical errors. More recent estimates predicted this number to be upwards of 400,000 deaths annually, making medical errors the third leading cause of death in the United States (Makary & Daniel, 2016). Miscommunication and handoff errors are the primary point these errors occur. The electronic health record (EHR) provides a platform for communication with checkpoints …show more content…
J., Nemergut, M. E., Stans, A. A., Haile, D. T., Feigal, S. A., Heinrich, A. L., ... & Tripathi, S. (2015). Lean Six Sigma handoff process between operating room and pediatric ICU: improvement in patient safety, efficiency and effectiveness. Critical Care, 19(1), P523.
Hillestad, R., Bigelow, J., Bower, A., Girosi, F., Meili, R., Scoville, R., & Taylor, R. (2005). Can electronic medical record systems transform health care? Potential health benefits, savings, and costs. Health affairs, 24(5), 1103-1117.
Institute of Medicine. (1999). To err is human: building a safer health system. Retrieved from http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/~/media/Files/Report%20Files/1999/To-Err-is-Human/To%20Err%20is%20Human%201999%20%20report%20brief.pdf
Makary, M. A., & Daniel, M. (2016). Medical error-the third leading cause of death in the US. BMJ: British Medical Journal (Online), 353.
Quigley, L., Lacombe-Duncan, A., Adams, S., Hepburn, C. M., & Cohen, E. (2014). A qualitative analysis of information sharing for children with medical complexity within and across health care organizations. BMC health services research, 14(1),
Susannah is a first-hand account of the dangers of misdiagnosing a patient and the call for better policies that address a better plan of action when making a
Medical professionals are liable for malpractice and could face consequences such as a lawsuit against them or being fired. These errors can be minimized by being more
Many healthcare organizations had to implement an electronic health records system (EHR) to meet certain guidelines set forth by the government. This was a technology that the clinic implemented years ago to meet the needs of the patient, the requirements of the insurance companies, lean processes, and government regulations. This software helped also look for opportunities to treat our patients better and track data for population health. HG Clinic is investing in a new billing system that will allow them to track patient data better and improved billing process. These are just examples of opportunities that the clinic implemented and are continuously evaluating their current software and equipment and looking for opportunities for
Communication in the operating room is very important. If surgeons and nurses are not communicating effectively it can directly affect the quality of patient care and safety. In 1999, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) issued a report, To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System, which estimated the fifth leading cause of death in hospitals in the United States was due to health care errors (Mason, Gardner, Outlaw, Freida, 2016). To help reduce these errors, effective communication needs to be exercised throughout health care.
Finally, it will explain the importance of ethics in communication and how patient safety is influenced by good or bad team communication. The first method of communication is mutual respect. The patient and clinician have a partnership based on trust. The patient has respect for the clinician 's experience and the clinician has respect for the patient 's wishes, needs, concerns and builds on past experience to meet immediate needs. (Paget, 2011).
Since many health information infrastructure systems are relatively new, there is still variability in the implementation stages that different organizations have achieved. Additionally, most systems will have more than one capability that provides value, so the relationship between the system’s functionality and the resulting impact to patient care must be analyzed in order to determine the value it provides (Einstein, Juzwishin, Kushniruk, & Nahm, 2011). Value of health information infrastructures can be assessed in many different ways, including whether the technology allows the availability of useful information, how that information is utilized by staff and patients, and its impact on health outcomes. For information to be of value and influence medical decision making, it must be comprehensive, accessible, useful, and valid (Fitterer, Mettler, Rohner, & Winter, 2011).
Electronic Health Records and Patient Confidentiality Technology has become an essential part of our everyday life therefore, it makes sense that doctors and hospitals get rid of the old fashioned paper charting and use technology to access patient records. Electronic health records (EHR) provide quick access to information, as doctors no longer have to wait for other providers to fax previous records to them. The accessibility of Electronic Health Records assist medical providers to make quick medical care decisions, by accessing previous care provided to patients including treatment and diagnosis. Quick access to information through EHR enables health care providers to treat patients faster as there is no need for records to be mailed or
With these seven factors, communicating about health, whether to the larger general public, or in a smaller clinical setting, would enforce a strong linkage between the public and healthcare. The considerations of health communications would allow for a better bridge to health any miscommunication that could occur. With this, there would be a drastic improvement in the health of individuals, families and communities. This has allowed me to reconsider all the factors that are relevant in not only communicating between patient to patient, but also educating the public on health concerns. As an aspiring provider, I hope to find a balance between these considerations in order to secure honesty with patients and the public.
Technology is a massive part of our society today and it is continuously changing. It can help solve issues and increase sufficiency. One safety issue that technology can help improve is medication administration errors that occur in hospitals and other health care settings. A medication administration error is defined as any preventable event that could possibly result in unsuitable medication use or harm to the patient while the health care professional is in control of the medication. The most common type of medical error is medication errors.
Medical Economics: EHRs have a positive impact on patient care, physicians say, retrieved from, http://medicaleconomics.modernmedicine.com/medical-economics/content/tags/athenahealth/ehrs-have-positive-impact-patient-care-physicians-say?page=full Menachemi, N. and Collum, T.H.,(2011). Benefits and drawbacks of electronic health record systems: Risk Manag Healthc Policy.4: 47–55., doi: 10.2147/RMHP.S12985. .PMCID: PMC3270933. Occupy Theory,(2014).Advantages and Disadvantages of Electronic Health Records.
Another issue is caused when patients have multiple encounters with many different healthcare providers and results in fragmentation of the medical record. There is often very little if any exchange at all of information that makes up the patients historical medical record. There is limited overall healthcare information that is had by each healthcare provider and healthcare organization. The level of fragmentation depends on the ability of the patient to communicate their health information to the healthcare provider and the ability of the healthcare provider to gather the health information.
“Knock knock.” “Who’s there?” “HIPPA.” “HIPPA who?” “Sorry, I can’t tell you that information…”
In order to make a spreadsheet for over 20,000 patients who were all seen in the emergency room in 2009, Stanford contracted Multi-Specialty Collection Services (MSCS) who would be in charge of creating the spreadsheet for them. This spreadsheet contained patient’s names, diagnoses numbers, admission and discharge dates, and billing
Nearly 66% of reported sentinel events from 1995-2005 caused by ineffective communication and between 2010-2013 ineffective communication ranked one of the top three reasons for related sentinel incidents (Garrett, 2016). The Joint Commission (2017), stated that the breakdown in communication in hospitals and medical offices were accounted for 30 percent of all malpractice sue causing 1,744 deaths and 1.7 billion dollars in malpractice payout in a spend of five years according to a 2015
G., O 'Brien, K., & Saha, S, 2016). Poor communication can also lead to mistrust of medical professionals as the patient may not understand what is occurring, leading to nonadherence to medical care and thus impacting on patient safety (Cuevas, A. G., O 'Brien, K., & Saha, S, 2016). What barriers to effective communication are described?