as a Source of Evidence-Based Practice
as a Source of Evidence-Based Practice
First of all, it is essential to refer to the fact that the practical implementation of the HIT in the Labor and Delivery units (L&D) is mainly aimed for improvement of the patient’s safety and increasing of the efficiency of personnel’ work – such as managing more than one patient in active labor (Campbell et al, 2008). Additional emphasis should be put on the fact that the L&D units are high-cost and high-risk environments. That is why, the tragic consequences may be caused by the delays in the patient care or failures in the transmission of the information. It is considered by the experts that launching of the inpatient electronic health record has the potential of improving the accuracy and thus, the quality of care, since it implies the shift from the pen-and-paper documentation to the electronic records (Umscheid et al, 2010).
More than that, in order to improve the efficacy of care via the means of the Health Information Technology, the maternal/fetal system of monitoring should be used in the L&D unit, since such system may document the interventions a swell as read the monitoring strips (Campbell et al, 2008)
It is possible to make a statement that the active use of HIT has the potential of making significant improvements in the healthcare services provision. At the same time, the implementation of the innovative approach needs the efforts, critical for the quality of health care improvement, since the major focus should be put on the quality of care rather than on individual components of such system – nurses or physicians, thus, such innovation are frequently opposed by the personnel of the health care units and L&D units in particular (Hynes et al, 2009).
It was claimed by Jamal et al (2009) that from the perspective of the quality management and assurance HIT should be interrelated with the organizational processes – such as issuing the organizational change, redesigning the workflow, conducting the economic evaluation of such changes. It means that not only introduction of the innovative approach is needed, but its integration with the philosophy of human resource management in the unit of care.
References
Campbell, E.M., Li, H., Mori, T. (2008) The Impact of Health Information Technology on Work Process and Patient Care in Labor and Delivery. Advances in Patient Safety: New Directions and Alternative Approaches (Vol. 4: Technology and Medication Safety).
Hynes, D.M, Weddle, T., Smith, N., Whittier, E., Atkins, D., Francis, J. (2009) Use of Health Information Technology to Advance Evidence-Based Care: Lessons from the VA QUERI Program. Journal of General Internal Medicine, p. 45-49
Jamal, A., McKenzie, K. and Clark, M. (2009) The impact of health information technology on the quality of medical and health care: a systematic review. Health Information Management Journal Vol 38 No 3, p. 1833-3583
Umscheid, C.A., Williams, K. and Brennan, P.J. (2010) Hospital-Based Comparative Effectiveness Centers: Translating Research into Practice to Improve the Quality, Safety and Value of Patient Care. J Gen Intern Med 25(12):1352–5
