Good Health And Medicine Essay Example

Proposal for using Electronic medical records in Primary health care

Introduction
Every citizen has a right to an excellent medical care and the providers need to have an effective and faster access to the necessary information when they give care. The decision support needs can be met with only if primary care providers use effective means of gathering, storing and providing information. The proposal for health and medicine focuses on the need and importance of Electronic medical records (EMRs) in the health care systems and how they can be useful for the primary care providers. Use of electronic medical records can improve quality, safety, and efficiency to make use of the education and research. A fully functional electronic medical record offers timely access to the information needed at the place of care.

Discussion

Primary care is very essential part of medical care and not only addresses the personal health care needs of the patients, but also develops a sustained relationship with patients, their family and community. The primary care providers offer chronic and preventive care for asthma, diabetes, heart disease, depression, etc. The biomedical knowledge and information on patients is generally take care of with pen and paper. Only about 5% of U.S. primary care providers make use of EMR systems. Even though the U.S. medical care is considered to be the world’s most advanced and expensive, the outcomes are mediocre when compared to other nations.
Paper records are used for because of their low costs and simplicity as well as widespread acceptance. However, there are issues with such records because of their illegibility, inability to be accessed when needed and issue with their handling and storage. It is essential to make good use of information technology and eliminate handwritten clinical records for belter and efficient record keeping. Electronic Medical Records offer complete information on the patient, his problem list, allergy list, medication list, notes, lab results, health maintenance information and other results. The computerized feature tools allow easy display and capturing of data. The information is complete, legible, and organized, and these can prove to be very advantageous in primary healthcare.
Still, there are barriers to adopting EMRs and the major obstacle is the initial cost of EMR systems. The health care system will need to measure the overall return on the EMR Investment. The impermanence of vendors is another barrier. The resistance to use EMR systems by the nurses and the physicians is another issue. The government should encourage and simplify the implementation of electronic medical records in primary health care.

Conclusion

EMR systems prove to be of the greatest benefit for the primary health care and service providers. The costs of EMRs can be borne partly by payers and the federal government. Results from other countries that have implemented electronic medical records in primary care successfully can be studied. Failure to computerize will mean missing out on opportunities to improve public health care delivery. Electronic medical records offer several benefits, especially to primary care. There is a need to follow the right strategies to lower the costs of and accelerate EMR implementation and encourage its adoption.