Introduction
My practice uses the Athena healthcare charting system for electronic health records (EHRs). This system allows for secure storage and easy acquisition of patient health information (Athenahealth, n.d.). It also allows healthcare providers to share health information securely with other providers and organizations.
Benefits of Charting System
The switch from paper charting to electronic health records has been beneficial to our practice. With paper charting, it wasn’t easy to find records quickly, share them with outside organizations, and keep them organized. With EHRs, all of these tasks are made much more manageable.
Limitations of Charting System
There are, however, some challenges and barriers to electronic charting. One of them is that it can be problematic to learn and understand how to use the software (Dinh-Le et al., 2019) correctly. This can be especially difficult for medical staff who may not be used to using computers for charting. Another challenge is that the cost of the software can be expensive. This can be a barrier for smaller practices that may not have the financial resources to purchase the software (Gardner et al., 2019).
Regulations for EHRs
Meaningful use regulations are specific requirements that healthcare providers must meet when using EHRs. These regulations are in place to ensure that healthcare providers are using EHRs to their fullest potential, and to ensure that patient data is being used appropriately (Huang et al., 2020). This is important for documenting in the EHR, as it ensures that all relevant patient data is being recorded and adequately documented.
Conclusion
Overall, electronic charting via EHRs has been beneficial to my practice. It has allowed us to store and access patient data more easily and securely and share this data with other providers and organizations. Although there may be challenges and barriers to using electronic charting, the meaningful use regulations ensure that healthcare providers properly use the software and document patient data correctly.
References
Athenahealth. (n.d.). Cloud-based healthcare products & services. Web.
Dinh-Le, C., Chuang, R., Chokshi, S., & Mann, D. (2019). Wearable health technology and electronic health record integration: Scoping review and future directions. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 7(9), e12861.
Gardner, R. L., Cooper, E., Haskell, J., Harris, D. A., Poplau, S., Kroth, P. J., & Linzer, M. (2019). Physician stress and burnout: the impact of health information technology. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 26(2), 106-114.
Huang, S. C., Pareek, A., Seyyedi, S., Banerjee, I., & Lungren, M. P. (2020). Fusion of medical imaging and electronic health records using deep learning: Asystematic review and implementation guidelines. NPJ Digital Medicine, 3(1), 136.
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