Health Medical Homework Help

 

Peer # 1

With the number of Covid cases fluctuating in the hospital during the coronavirus pandemic, it is quite vital for me, as a Guest Service Representative, to be aware of accurate statuses of patients to determine if they are able to have visitors. It is also in the best interest of the patients and the visitors that the appropriate personal protective equipment is provided, if need be. Thankfully, we use the Epic Electronic Medical Records system which provides a feature that gives me the current status of patients without accessing their complete file and breaking HIPAA regulations. Said regulations are enforced because confidential information of a patient should not be accessed unless the purpose involves their treatment of care (Gillman, 2020).

Prior to switching to the new Epic EMR system, the previous medical record system did not auto-populate updated Covid status. This was a critical time to have a quality EMR  system such as Epic as it was the early period of the mandated lockdown. This caused much confusion between the hospital front desk staff unknowingly granting access to flagged patients and unit clerks continuously checking for updates while managing their responsibilities.

With the hospital policy allowing one visitor per patient a day, the census data sheet with the Covid status, allowed me to determine which patient would and could not have visitation privileges. The census data sheet was printed early in the morning with data last updated from a few hours prior.  However the root of our issue of mistakenly allowing visitors to see a Covid-positive patient was caused by the lack of updated status results throughout the day. Meaning new updated census sheets had to be reprinted every few hours. Having access to accurate data such as Covid statuses has played and continues to play a big role in protecting not only the visitors, but the employees, and the patients themselves as those who could receive visitors were at risk of potential exposure from their loved ones visiting.

Gillman, K. (2020, September 17). Access to patient medical records: When is it not okay? Retrieved August 19, 2021, from https://www.avant.org.au/news/20160622-improper-access-of-medical-records/

Peer # 2  (100 words minimum)

Any organization’s data is one of its most important assets. It’s critical to have experts on staff who know how to gather, store, retrieve, and display data that supports clinical and commercial choices. Healthcare data refers to information on an individual’s or population’s “health problems, reproductive results, causes of mortality, and quality of life.” Clinical measurements, as well as environmental, socioeconomic, and behavioral information, are all included in healthcare data. Health communication and health information technology (IT) are critical components of health care, public health, and how we see health in our culture. These processes define how professionals and the general public look for, comprehend, and use health information, and have a substantial effect on their health choices and behaviors. An example of a scenario where healthcare data would have been useful is when a patient visits a hospital for his/her diagnosis and treatment but apparently his/her doctor is out of the country and on leave. With the aid of healthcare data, it would be easier for another doctor and nurses to track down his/her past medical histories,  diagnosis, and prescription which will make it easier for them to proceed with new diagnosis and treatment that will also be recorded in the system. Health professionals can deliver more efficient, higher-quality, safer, and customized treatment and care coordination when they have access to a patient’s current health data. Patients who examine their own health data have a better understanding of how their health is changing over time.EHR (Electronic Health Records) is the most often used kind of big data in medicine. Every patient has his or her own digital record, which includes information such as demographics, medical history, allergies, and laboratory test results, among other things(Gunter et al, 2005). Records are exchanged through secure information systems and are accessible to both public and private sector suppliers

Reference

Gunter, Tracy D; Terry, Nicolas P (2005). “The Emergence of National Electronic Health Record Architectures in the United States and Australia: Models, Costs, and Questions”. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 7 (1): e3. doi:10.2196/jmir.7.1.e3. PMC 1550638. PMID 15829475.