This paper is aimed at discussing the factors that can hinder the adoption of Electronic Health Record Systems (EHRSs). In particular, much attention should be paid to the challenges that are associated with maintenance and downtime. The key issue is that medical institutions may not ensure the effective functioning of these tools after their implementation.
At first, one should speak about the annual maintenance costs that can equal approximately $85,500 (McBride par. 13). In turn, many hospitals may not afford these expenditures. This argument is particularly relevant if one speaks about small healthcare organizations in which the cost-efficiency of EHRSs is rather low. Therefore, hospital administrators may not be able to invest capital in other areas related to the improvement of patient care. Admittedly, they can derive some benefits such as improved audit functions or time efficiency (Alsosari 496; Moja, Bertizzolo, and Bonovas 12). Nevertheless, these advantages may not outweigh the costs of maintenance.
Furthermore, the problems related to maintenance can arise when the users will apply various elements of EHRSs. The problem is that in many cases, nurses or physicians may lack the necessary competencies to apply EHRSs effectively (Shaker, Farooq, and Dhafar 1). As a result, they cannot fully benefit from adopting such technologies (Shaker and Farooq 173; Bah 1). This is one of the challenges that should be considered.
Apart from that, difficulties can arise if there are no safeguards that protect the private data of patients. At present, the risk of security breaches has not been eliminated, and the confidential information of patients can be transferred to unauthorized third parties (Ozair 74). In turn, hospitals may have to resolve significant conflicts with clients. In some cases, these disputes can lead to lawsuits that will be very costly. This is one of the risks that one should not overlook.
Additionally, maintenance can become challenging due to the lack of software that can be easily updated or modified (Aminpour, Sadoughi, and Ahamdi 57). Certainly, open-source software can be useful for modifying EHRSs, especially at a time when some technical problems have to be resolved (Aminpour, Sadoughi, and Ahamdi 57; Alsanea 117). Nevertheless, the developers of EHRSs do not always provide open-source software to medical organizations.
Furthermore, it is critical to remove such a problem as downtime. This term is used to describe the period during which the system is not available to the users. This technical problem can significantly undermine the work of many medical institutions (Oral 100). In particular, healthcare professionals may not quickly get access to the data which may be critical for the treatment of patients. In many cases, such events result in the dissatisfaction of these people. In turn, the adoption of EHRSs is more likely to become more widespread provided that there are well-developed procedures for coping with such difficulties. If these procedures are absent, medical workers may not get access to the relevant information as soon as possible. This is one of the issues that should be addressed by developers.
On the whole, this discussion shows that the adoption of EHRSs can be influenced by different factors. In particular, it is critical to consider the ability of developers to reduce downtime and provide support to medical institutions. If these challenges are effectively overcome, the rate of adoption will increase significantly.
Works Cited
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