Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Watch Your Step - May 2014 - Subscribe to Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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4 9 M AY 2 0 1 4 | O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E D o electronic medical records make you feel more like a secretary than a surgical nurse? You're not alone in your frustration. "We often hear people complain that it's like they're doing more typing than nursing," says Erin Sparnon, engineering manager in the health devices group at ECRI Institute, an independent nonprofit that researches the best approaches to improving patient care. The purpose of EMRs is to enable healthcare workers to provide more effective, efficient, coordi- nated care, not make them better touch-typists. Here are 5 ways digi- tal record-keeping can help you deliver better patient care. 1. Ready access to the patient's medical record. EMRs can update instantly and are easy to read. "Gone are the days of hunting down the record that could still be in the transferring depart- ment or being held awaiting signatures," says Jan Kleinhesselink, RN, D I G I T A L R E C O R D K E E P I N G Can EMRs Improve Patient Care? SKEPTICAL More than half (52%) of the 551 surgical facility leaders we sur- veyed are not convinced that electronic medical records improve patient care. Pamela Bevelhymer, RN, BSN The answer might surprise you. Dan O'Connor | Editor-in-Chief OSE_1405_part2_Layout 1 5/8/14 2:23 PM Page 49

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