THE EFFECT OF AN EHR INTERNAL COMMUNICATION – INTEROPERABILITY

Objective:

To explain the importance of interoperability in electronic healthcare record systems and the benefits it provides to healthcare organizations and patients.

Introduction:

Interoperability is a critical aspect of electronic healthcare record (EHR) systems. It allows for the seamless exchange, integration, and use of data across different information systems, devices, and applications within and beyond organizational, regional, and national boundaries. This paper aims to highlight the significance of interoperability in EHR systems and its benefits.

Need:

Currently, EHR systems are often developed in silos, leading to redundancy and ambiguity in information exchange and sharing. Interoperability enables the use of common terms and methods for sharing information, allowing users to extract necessary information from multiple sources through a single query.

Benefits of Interoperability:

1. Safeguarding patient data: Interoperability in healthcare helps protect patient privacy and secure their sensitive data. It reduces the likelihood of patient confidentiality being compromised due to poorly networked computer systems. IT departments can set up strict rules about who is allowed to input and access data, making it easy to monitor staff compliance and perform audits in case of data breaches.

2. Assisting public health research: Interoperability allows internal computer systems to connect with networks of computers that researchers rely on to conduct epidemiology studies or review the efficacy of a particular treatment method.

3. Improving staff productivity: Interoperability leads to a noticeable increase in productivity by reducing redundant data entry and speeding up document processing. Working with digital documents exclusively or converting paperwork to digital saves time in finding and updating records.

4. Better data exchange with other systems: Interoperability enables staff to easily transmit and share various types of information, such as reports or updates, with other healthcare organizations or insurance companies.

5. Enhancing patient experience: Interoperability reduces paperwork for both staff and patients, resulting in a better patient experience. Patients do not need to repeatedly fill out forms, and staff does not need to rekey information into the database. Patients' details will be right in their record for any staff who needs to see it before consultation or follow-up.

Conclusion:

Interoperability in EHR systems is crucial for the efficient and effective exchange, integration, and use of data across different information systems, devices, and applications. It provides several benefits to healthcare organizations and patients, such as safeguarding patient data, assisting public health research, improving staff productivity, enhancing data exchange with other systems, and enhancing the patient experience.