Safer Care- 2 Ways Health Informatics Improves Patient Safety

Safer Care- 2 Ways Health Informatics Improves Patient Safety

The use of health informatics has significantly improved patient safety in multiple ways. Two examples of how patient safety has been improved through the use of healthcare informatics are the safety of medication and consistency of quality care delivery. Medication administration errors (MAEs) remain a preventable major threat to patient safety during the medication process, especially in busy and demanding healthcare settings such as the emergency room. MAEs are associated with the risk of adverse drug events, which can result in death, patient harm, prolonged lengths of stay, and higher costs of care (Ledlow et al., 2021). A specific manner in which the use of health informatics has been able to improve patient safety in the medication process is the application of Bar-coded Medication Administration (BCMA) at the point of medication administration. The introduction of the BCMA combined with other systems, such as electronic health records (EHRs), has been found to reduce the chances of mixing up patients and medications while improving the accuracy of medication administration with a significant reduction in MAEs (Zheng et al., 2021).

Healthcare informatics has also improved patient safety by supporting the delivery of consistent quality care. Specifically, healthcare informatics such as EHRs have significantly improved how patient information is collected, analyzed, stored, accessed, and used to make care decisions and in care planning. EHRs enable healthcare providers to collect patient data at all care points into one electronic database that can be updated, shared, and accessed remotely and at any time, improving the efficiency of care delivery (Denton et al., 2018). This improves patient safety by supporting remote collaboration in care delivery as well as supporting access to up-to-date patient information. Such ease of access to updated patient health information can help with decision-making in medication, case management, and countering disease development before complications occur.

References

Denton, C. A., Soni, H. C., Kannampallil, T. G., Serrichio, A., Shapiro, J. S., Traub, S. J., & Patel, V. L. (2018). Emergency physicians’ perceived influence of EHR use on clinical workflow and performance metrics. Applied Clinical Informatics, 9(3), 725. https://doi.org/10.1055/S-0038-1668553

Ledlow, J. H., Patrician, P. A., & Miltner, R. S. (2021). Medication administration errors: A concept analysis. Nursing Forum, 56(4), 980–985. https://doi.org/10.1111/NUF.12617

Zheng, W. Y., Lichtner, V., Van Dort, B. A., & Baysari, M. T. (2021). The impact of introducing automated dispensing cabinets, barcode medication administration, and closed-loop electronic medication management systems on work processes and safety of controlled medications in hospitals: A systematic review. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy, 17(5), 832–841. https://doi.org/10.1016/