Evidence-Based Practice

Evidence-Based Practice

The evidence-based practice incorporates clinical opinion and expertise with the patients to offer quality care that meets the clinical standards and aligns with the patients’ needs and wishes. The process utilizes the judgment, knowledge, and critical reasoning acquired by health care professionals through professional experiences and training. Collecting accurate information and completing the care templates offered by a facility’s electronic health records system allows healthcare professionals to diagnose patients correctly. This essay assesses the intersection of evidence-based practice with EHR and how to promote their application. With the realization of the benefits of big data analytics, many health care facilities are exploring the application of electronic health records to improve the quality of care they offer and the relevance of their clinical decisions. Professionals are increasingly using the EHR to communicate medical discoveries and treatment plans allowing professionals to coordinate care within and between different facilities (Chipps et al., 2020). One of the benefits of incorporating EHR systems into evidence-based care is that it helps to ensure the professionals reach better clinical decisions. The approach facilitates the creation and sharing of the new practice guidelines, recommending practices and guidelines that improve care quality, and allows for shared decision-making in facilities (Chipps et al., 2020). These three ways ensure that staff can achieve coordinated care sustainably. The approach also improves adherence to clinical guidelines and practices that may lead to short-term increases in costs. However, these costs accrue to benefits in the future by mitigating future needs that health care facilities may face while offering quality care. More importantly, the approach needs to be used with complementary interventions that account for real-life situations, including suggestions made on decisions and the effect of leadership and interdepartmental relations. Patients are the center of evidence-based practice in that the care, while in line with the clinical guidelines offered, should align with their needs. Recent studies show that EHR systems are continuously used to nudge clinicians to make clinical decisions. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 ensures the security of all health information data (Chipps et al., 2020). However, while access to patient information is limited to the management and the relevant professionals, patients are allowed to read, share or print their health information. Helping patients to understand the role of EHRs in improving the quality of care provided allows them to be part of the care process by increasing platforms to review care and journal their health conditions to improve the information available to their physicians (Hoover, 2017). Patients can use EHR systems to access telehealth services and conference with their physicians without visiting the facility in person when there is no need. Improving patient empowerment and engagement allows facilities to educate the patients on their role in improving care and the role of EHR in facilitating it. One of the benefits of electronic health records is that it presents legibility attributed to medical errors. Electronic health records systems further improve patient outcomes by identifying medication errors and alert clinicians on missing patient information that can affect the quality of clinical decisions (Hoover, 2017). The systems also allow for the timely sharing of critical medical and laboratory reports in emergencies. Clinicians should be made aware of the benefits of electronic health records to their decisions and patient outcomes. Making them shareholders in the design of the health information systems allows them to apply their expertise and knowledge in creating a diagnosing tool. With the realization of the benefits of big data analytics, many health care facilities are exploring the application of electronic health records to improve the quality of care. Improving patient empowerment and engagement allows facilities to educate the patients on their role in improving care and the role of EHR in facilitating it. Making clinicians shareholders in the design of the health information systems allows them to apply their expertise and knowledge in creating a diagnosing tool.   References Chipps, E., Tucker, S., Labardee, R., Thomas, B., Weber, M., Gallagher-Ford, L., & Melnyk, B. M. (2020). The impact of the electronic health record on moving new evidence-based nursing practices forward. Worldviews on evidence-based nursing, 17(2), 136–143. https://doi.org/10.1111/wvn.12435 Hoover, R. (2017). Benefits of using an electronic health record. Nursing2020 Critical Care, 12(1), 9-10.