NURS FPX 8012 Assessment3 SAFER Guides and Evaluating Technology Usage - SAFER Guides and Evaluating Technology Usage

As healthcare continues to embrace technological advancements, healthcare professionals must thoroughly understand the potential risks of implementing these technologies. This is especially critical for Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) nurses who may find themselves leading large-scale informatics implementation projects. Identifying and mitigating potential risks is critical to ensuring the safety and integrity of patient data in healthcare settings (Scantlebury et al., 2021).

We will examine the use of these guides to evaluate the implementation of an electronic health record (EHR) system as a solution for addressing safety, process, or quality issues in a chosen healthcare context, i.e., Allen hospital (Aguirre et al., 2019). The findings from this evaluation will inform the development of a risk mitigation plan in a later assessment. Using the SAFER guides, DNP nurses can comprehensively understand the potential risks of implementing informatics solutions in healthcare (Flaubert et al., 2021). This knowledge is critical for ensuring patient safety and data integrity and for the success of informatics implementation projects. This paper will explore using the SAFER guides to identify performance and risk issues in healthcare settings.

EHR as a Practice Change to Drive Improvements

An electronic health record (EHR) is a proposed informatics solution implemented as part of a practice change to drive improvements in the chosen healthcare environment (Tsai et al., 2020). The EHR system will replace the paper-based record-keeping system with a digital platform enabling healthcare providers to access patient information from a centralized location. The EHR system will capture and store patient information such as medical history, diagnoses, medications, allergies, laboratory test results, and radiology reports.

The primary goal of implementing an EHR system is to improve patient care and outcomes by providing healthcare providers with easy access to accurate, up-to-date patient information (Adane et al., 2019). This will help to ensure that healthcare providers can make well-informed decisions about patient care, reducing the likelihood of errors and improving patient safety. Additionally, the EHR system will streamline administrative processes such as billing and scheduling, reducing the time and resources required for these tasks. Other improvement goals include increasing efficiency, reducing costs, enhancing communication, and improving patient satisfaction.

SAFER Guide Findings Related to Good Performance 

The SAFER Guides evaluation of Allen Hospital’s EHR implementation has identified several areas where the hospital performs well. One of the areas where Allen Hospital is performing well is in the Hardware and Software Dependability domain. The hospital has implemented robust hardware, and software systems that are dependable, stable, and secure, which helps to ensure that patient data is protected and available when needed (Szarfman et al., 2022). The hospital has also implemented several measures to ensure the reliability of hardware and software systems, such as regular system backups and failover systems.

Another area where Allen Hospital is performing well is in the Contingency Planning domain. The hospital has established robust contingency plans to ensure that patient data is protected and available during a disaster or system failure (Melnychuk et al., 2022). The hospital has also established procedures for regular data backups and recovery to ensure that patient data is not lost during a system failure (Melnychuk et al., 2022).

In addition, the hospital is performing well in the Clinical Process Improvement domain. The hospital has implemented several measures to improve clinical processes, such as using clinical decision-support tools and integrating clinical guidelines into the EHR system (Enticott et al., 2021). This has helped improve the quality of patient care, reduce errors, and improve patient outcomes.

Examples

For example, during the SAFER Guides evaluation, it was found that Allen Hospital has implemented several measures to ensure that the EHR system is dependable and secure. For instance, the hospital has implemented a robust backup system, ensuring that patient data is backed up regularly and available in case of a system failure. The hospital has also implemented a failover system that ensures that the EHR system remains available in case of a hardware or software failure. Furthermore, the hospital has implemented clinical decision support tools, such as alerts and reminders, which have helped improve patient care quality. For instance, the EHR system alerts clinicians when patients are due for preventive services, such as can