Electronic Health Records and Readmission Rates in Emergency Departments: A Literature Evaluation
Overview
This literature evaluation examines the relationship between Electronic Health Records (EHR) implementation in emergency departments and patient readmission rates. The paper argues that EHR systems enhance information sharing, reduce medical errors, and improve patient outcomes, thereby reducing readmission rates. The analysis is structured around a PICOT research question comparing readmission prevalence in EHR-equipped versus non-equipped emergency departments.
What this literature review covers
- Clinical issue summary addressing EHR's potential to improve diagnosis and reduce medical errors
- PICOT question formulation for comparing readmission rates with and without EHR implementation
- Literature evaluation table with three peer-reviewed article citations and analysis criteria
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Summary of Clinical Issue: Electronic Health Records and Readmission Rates
The use of Electronic Health Records (EHR) has the potential to enhance diagnosis and patient outcomes. The system helps improve the ability to diagnose conditions, reduces and prevents medical errors, and improves patient outcomes. Within the emergency department, correct information is essential because it ensures that knowledge is sharing is enhanced. The decisions within the emergency department setting are based on data. Suppose there is delay in sharing information and errors in information sharing.
In that case, there is a high likelihood that this would lead to medical errors, poor health outcomes, and other health complications. All these would lead to increased readmission rates (Flaks-Manov et al., 2020). Therefore, with the proven potential of technology in enhancing care outcomes, we can deduce that installing EHR within the emergency department can reduce the risk of readmission.
Through the system, professionals working within and outside the emergency department can exchange important patient information required to administer appropriate therapies. Readmission rates are an essential factor that can be used to determine whether the use of technology enhances patient care outcomes or not. It is the basis for understanding where having the EHR system helps physicians make sound decisions (Lammers, McLaughlin & Barna, 2016).
PICOT Question: What is the prevalence of readmission rates (O) in emergency departments (P) with Electronic Health Records (EHR) (I) compared to those without (C) HER over one-year period (T).
References
Flaks-Manov, N., Srulovici, E., Yahalom, R., Perry-Mezre, H.