NURS-FPX 6412 Analysis of Clinical Information Systems and Application to Nursing Practice Policy and Guidelines for the Informatics Staff: Decision-Making in the Utilization of Informatics Systems

Abstract

This policy delineates the role and evaluation of Electronic Treatment Administration (eTAR) as a crucial tool within the healthcare system’s Electronic Health Records (EHR) framework. It underscores eTAR’s significance in supporting evidence-based practice, analyzing the work environment, contributing to strategic initiatives, assessing workflow efficiency, and promoting interprofessional care. Additionally, the document outlines guidelines and duties pertinent to the implementation of eTAR in healthcare settings.

Functions of eTAR

Electronic Treatment Administration (eTAR) fulfills several pivotal functions within the healthcare domain:

• Facilitation of Electronic Medication and Treatment Administration.
• Ensurance of accurate documentation of medication and treatment administration (McConeghy et al., 2021).
• Maintenance of healthcare records’ precision.
• Documentation upkeep of doses, treatments, and procedural interventions.
• Provision of alerts for nurses regarding critical patient assessments and maintenance of Electronic Care Flow Sheets (Kataria & Ravindran, 2020).

Evaluation of eTAR’s Function in Evidence-Based Practice

eTAR enhances nursing services through the adoption of paperless electronic care strategies, relevant to acute and post-acute patient care scenarios. It generates resident lists based on parameters like location, pass time, and administration route, facilitating the creation of comprehensive patient e-charts. The system incorporates checkboxes for treatment and medication documentation, tracks patient-specific responses, and streamlines reorder requests when necessary. This methodical approach ensures streamlined care delivery (Li et al., 2021), with session summaries providing statistical insights into various parameters.

Guidelines Reflecting Analysis of Work Setting

eTAR augments patient experiences while mitigating discrepancies in healthcare processes, thereby safeguarding patient data against human errors. It enables the documentation of patient demographics, health status, medication routes, procedural interventions, and outcomes. Moreover, it assists healthcare providers in recording unexecuted medical and surgical orders, ensuring compliance with Electronic Health Records (EHR) of residents. This fosters seamless collaboration between nurses and physicians (Quinn et al., 2019).

Contribution to Strategic Planning

eTAR assumes a pivotal role in strategic planning by prioritizing new orders within a 72-hour timeframe. Leveraging NetSolutions Clinical Decisions software, it stores and validates patient data, ensuring adherence to patient consent and access rights. The Clinical Decision Support (CDS) feature enriches care quality by furnishing validated data to care providers for more effective care delivery (Robertson et al., 2019).

Assessment of Workflow Efficiency

eTAR’s digitized data collection simplifies care provision, offering user-friendly features such as quick links, two-step verification, seamless access to patient data, and optimal information placement. It employs barcoding for secure data storage, minimizing the risk of human errors (Tapuria et al., 2021), thereby maximizing workflow efficiency and supporting multidisciplinary tasks.

Contribution to Interprofessional Care

eTAR facilitates access to patient information, fostering coordinated interprofessional collaborative patient practice (ICP). It complements Electronic Health Records (EHR) by enhancing interprofessional communication and delineating role responsibilities and competencies. The system generates reports that keep the entire team informed, fostering effective communication within interdisciplinary healthcare teams (Quinn et al., 2019).

Conclusion

eTAR emerges as a valuable EHR tool, ensuring the maintenance of accurate patient data, enhancing patient safety, and providing convenient patient access to information. Its efficient features, guidelines, and policies significantly contribute to the healthcare system’s quality and efficiency.

References

Kataria, S., & Ravindran, V. (2020). Electronic health records: A critical appraisal of strengths and limitations. Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, 50(3), 262–268. https://doi.org/10.4997/jrcpe.2020.309

Li, E., Clarke, J., Neves, A. L., Ashrafian, H., & Darzi, A. (2021). Electronic Health Records, Interoperability and Patient Safety in Health Systems of High-income Countries: A Systematic Review Protocol.