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BSHM, chief quality officer at Lincoln (Neb.) Surgical Hospital. Instead,
by simply logging into the EMR, staff can view real-time and historic
data that can result in timely documentation and support of care, she
says. Plus, you eliminate legibility mistakes. Relying on reading some-
one's handwritten notes is asking for trouble, says healthcare attorney
Thomas L. O'Carroll of Hinshaw & Culbertson in Chicago. "Increased
legibility of physician's orders can lead to more accuracy," he says.
2. Improved patient safety. If you store paper charts off-
site, you won't know that a certain patient has a difficult airway history,
says anesthesiologist Philip J. Arbit, MD, medical director and chief of
anesthesia services at Novi (Mich.) Surgery Center. "EMRs make patient
histories and anesthesia records instantly available to you," says Dr.
Arbit. EMRs can cut down on preventable adverse events, even death.
For example, they can prompt you to order deep-vein thrombosis pre-
vention or to document the reasons why it wasn't ordered.
3. Bedside medical device connectivity. Vital signs
monitors are among the first devices that surgical facilities are con-
necting to EMRs. The ability to transmit patient data straight to the
EMR saves time and improves efficiency (no more paper and pencil!).
But don't stop there. You can connect many different types of
devices to the patient record. For example, you can connect infusion
pump servers to EMRs and to bedside bar-coding systems. "Once you
connect those 3 pieces together, you can make sure the programming
on the pump matches the medication order for that patient," says Ms.
Sparnon. As the pump is running, you'll automatically send documen-
tation of an infusion to that patient's flow sheet so the entire care
team is aware of what that patient's receiving, she adds. "Having docu-
mentation sitting there waiting for a nurse to validate it can really
D I G I T A L R E C O R D K E E P I N G
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