Checking Your Medical Records - More Important Than Ever Before

Months ago, grand discussions of the shift from paper medical records to digital, electronic health and medical records, was all the rage.  In particular, among my Twitter colleagues, it seemed like it was all anyone wanted to talk about.

At the time, the big question was, how would doctors afford to make the shift?  Beyond just computerizing their records, they would need systems that actually share our records!  And systems that, once the meaningful use laws were determined, would allow patients to access their own records, too.

Here at the About.com Patient Empowerment site, we looked at electronic medical records - what they are, the plusses and the problems....

via patients.about.com

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Electronic Health Records: Status, Needs and Lessons – 2011 Report Based on 2010 Data

The use of electronic health records (EHRs) by medical practices and other organizations in the United States has increased measurably in the past decade. Despite the potential to improve the quality of patient care and enhance practices' financial performance, the technology remains far from universal.

To better understand the current state of EHR use, MGMA conducted a study funded by PNC Bank to explore the barriers and benefits of EHR adoption. MGMA collected data between Oct. 1, 2010, and Nov. 9, 2010, from 4,588 healthcare organizations nationwide that responded to the survey. The data represent the aggregate experience of more than 120,000 physicians in medical practice.

via blog.mgma.com

Click on the "via" link for the rest of the article.

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Sincerely,

Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly, Inc. A New Jersey Corporation.
38 Tattersall Drive, Mantua New Jersey 08051
http://www.nursefriendly.com info@nursefriendly.com ICQ #6116137
856-415-9617, (fax) 415-9618

150,000 + Nurse-Reviewed & Approved Nursing Links

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CMS 30-minute rule for drug administration needs revision, ISMP.org

In our June 17, 2010 newsletter, we covered a precarious topic best known as the “30-minute rule”—a requirement in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Conditions of Participation Interpretive Guidelines to administer scheduled medications within 30 minutes before or after the scheduled time (see pages 174-175 at: www.cms.gov/manuals/Downloads/som107ap_a_hospitals.pdf). In our July 2010 nursing newsletter, Nurse Advise-ERR, we asked frontline nurses who are most directly affected by the 30-minute rule to weigh in on the issue by completing a short survey. And WOW, did they ever! More than 17,500 nurses responded to our survey, providing more than 8,000 additional comments (see Table 1 on page 2 of the PDF version of the newsletter), making it very clear that the issue is of great significance to nurses.

Respondent profile and compliance rates
Almost half of the responding nurses work on medical/surgical units, and the other half work in critical care, telemetry, or specialty inpatient units. Most nurses feel that the 30-minute rule is unsafe, unrealistic, impractical, and virtually impossible to follow. Approximately three out of four respondents (70%) told us their organization enforces such a policy. Of these nurses, only five of every 100 (5%) were always able to comply with the policy, while more than half (59%) were infrequently or only sometimes compliant (see Graph 1 on page 6 of the PDF version of the newsletter). Why nurses find it difficult to comply with the 30-minute rule was expressed by many (see Table 2 on page 3 of the PDF version of the newsletter), including a nurse who sent a pragmatic yet eloquent account of a Day in the Life of a Nurse (see Sidebar that follows this article). 

via ismp.org

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******************************************************

Sincerely,

Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly, Inc. A New Jersey Corporation.
38 Tattersall Drive, Mantua New Jersey 08051
http://www.nursefriendly.com info@nursefriendly.com ICQ #6116137
856-415-9617, (fax) 415-9618

150,000 + Nurse-Reviewed & Approved Nursing Links

http://www.4nursing.com
http://www.legalnursingconsultant.com
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http://www.nursefriendly.com
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