Health Services Research Commons^™

Adoption Of Medication Management Technologies By U.S. Acute Care Hospitals After The Hitech Act, Aastha Chandak

Theses & Dissertations

Medication errors and adverse drug events (ADEs) are a significant public health concern in the United States as they pose a threat to patient safety. The medication management process is a complicated process in U.S. acute care hospitals, consisting of a series of steps such as ordering, transcribing, dispensing and administration and each step is prone to medication errors.The use of technology is considered to be an important intervention in improving the medication management process and thereby reducing medication errors and ADEs and further improve patient safety. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, implemented in …

The Impact Of Electronic Health Records On Healthcare Service Delivery, Patient Safety, And Quality, Kate Elizabeth Trout

Theses & Dissertations

The HITECH Act has provided over $30 billion of support through the Meaningful Use program to implement Electronic Health Records (EHRs) with aims to improve healthcare service delivery, efficiency, quality, and patient safety. New healthcare models, such as pay-for-performance and value-based purchasing, were envisioned to aligning quality with reimbursement mediated with the use of EHRs. It is unclear of how EHRs and Meaningful Use have impacted health service delivery, patient safety, and quality of care. Thus, making it difficult to determine if the specific set of objectives for Meaningful Use have had a positive impact on outcomes, which ultimately is …

Does The Electronic Health Record Improve The Timeliness Review And Notification Of Medical Laboratory And X-Ray Test Results?, Ruby Estes

Applied Research Projects

The medical community struggles with timeliness issues throughout the different healthcare environments in many areas of patient care. The demands of meeting patient care needs is great everywhere. One area that can lead to extreme adverse outcomes and affects patient safety is failure to review and follow-up on medical test results timely. In addition the lack of timely follow-up and treatment can lead to medico-legal implications for all healthcare professionals involved in the patients care. Some timeliness issues have been attributed to understaffed healthcare institutions, lack of trained staff, and in many instances inefficient and insufficient processes. This is an …

Is Cloud Computing In Healthcare Providing A Safe Environment For Storing Protected Health Information? A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Ashley N. Hayes

Applied Research Projects

Over the past several years, cloud computing has become increasingly more popular for the use of storing, accessing, and maintaining electronic health records (EHRs). In comparison to conventional EHR management tools, such as installed software, cloud computing offers more capabilities for medical facilities and their patients. Experts claim that in addition to changing the face of health information technology, it will also advance healthcare services, and benefit medical research. As the use of cloud computing has increased, so has the amount of healthcare data breaches. This study is proposing that there is a correlation between the increase in cloud computing …

Adoption Rate Of A Certified Ehr At Medical Practices With Five Or Fewer Physicians, Nelda Onwualiaobu

Applied Research Projects

The adoption rate of a certified electronic health record (EHR) for small medical practices have been the subject of discussion because prior research shows that larger medical practices have a higher rate of adoption than small medical practices. The major reason for this disparity has been the cost of adoption and implementation as many small practices are not financially equipped to shoulder this burden. The purpose of this research was to determine the adoption rate of a certified EHR for medical practices with five or fewer physicians. Through a google search and filtering the results of the search, the office …

How Barriers To Using The Electronic Health Record Effects Behavioral Healthcare, Jennifer Woodard

Applied Research Projects

The healthcare scene is rapidly changing due to the introduction of the electronic health record (EHR) and advances in technology. This means more patient data is readily available for use and gives physicians and patients’ faster access to that data. With the passing of recent legislature such as the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, resulting in the rapid adoption of electronic health records due to incentive payment programs. With this comes the push for use of the electronic health record to prepare for Meaningful Use and improved …

Using Electronic Health Record Data To Improve Community Health Assessment, Brian E. Dixon, Jian "Frank" Zou, Karen F. Comer, Marc Rosenman, Jennifer L. Craig, P Gibson

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

Background: Community health assessments assist health departments in identifying health needs as well as disparities, and they enable linking of needs with available interventions. Electronic health record (EHR) systems possess growing volumes of clinical and administrative data, making them a valuable source of data for ongoing community health assessment.

Purpose: To produce population health indicators using data from EHR systems that could be combined and visually displayed alongside social determinants data, and to provide data sets at geographic levels smaller than a county.

Methods: Data from multiple EHR systems used by major health systems covering >90% of the population in …

Decreasing Patient Cost And Travel Time Through Pediatric Rheumatology Telemedicine Visits., Elizabeth A. Kessler, Ashley K. Sherman, Mara L. Becker

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: There is a critical shortage of pediatric rheumatologists in the US. Substantial travel to clinics can impose time and monetary burdens on families. The aim of this study was to evaluate the cost of in-person pediatric rheumatology visits for families and determine if telemedicine clinics resulted in time and cost savings. Factors associated with interest in telemedicine were also explored.

METHODS: Surveys were offered to parents and guardians of patients in Pediatric Rheumatology follow-up clinics in Kansas City, Missouri, the primary site of in-person care, and at a telemedicine outreach site 160 miles away, in Joplin, Missouri. Survey questions …

Advancing Population Health: New Models And The Role Of Research. An Overview Of The 22nd Annual Health Care Systems Research Network Conference, Robert T. Greenlee, Lois E. Lamerato, Sarah M. Greene

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

The Health Care Systems Research Network (HCSRN; formerly HMO Research Network) held its annual conference in Atlanta, Georgia, in April 2016. A consortium of research organizations affiliated with 20 large health care delivery systems, the HCSRN met for the 22^nd consecutive year to report on scientific achievements, develop and share skills and best practices, and promote new research collaborations. The 2016 conference, with a theme of “Advancing Population Health: New Models and the Role of Research,” was co-hosted on behalf of HCSRN by Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation and Henry Ford Health System’s Public Health Sciences Department. The 350 conference …

Nutrition Informatics: Information Technology Transition For Registered Dieticians, Arlanda Bell

Applied Research Projects

The passing of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) has created a growing push for healthcare organizations to no longer use paper based records and convert to an Electronic Health Record (EHR). Along with the adoption of an EHR comes a necessary change for ancillary services like nutrition and dietetic services because it affects patient care as well. In order to maintain a professional standard in patient healthcare as other health disciplines have done, the development of nutrition informatics model has become necessary. Nutrition informatics will prove to be a necessary addition to the developing …

Ehr Quality Documentation Research Thesis, Ashley Danielle Holmes

Applied Research Projects

This research proposal contains and introduction to my proposed research, background of the issue at hand, purpose of the research, significance of the research, research questions that I will be asking, definition of terms, limitations that I may be facing, literature review, SWOT Analysis, and Work Flow diagram on literature review. Also discussed are my proposed research methodology, research design, population sample, data collection procedures, as well as a table of survey variables that I propose to include. This proposal will go over why documentation quality and quantity is so important and the history behind why we are facing a …

Visualizing And Interacting With Social Determinants Of Health, Moutasem Zakkar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the use of information visualization to represent specific social determinants of health, and to examine the benefits of such representation for health policymaking. Methods: The study developed a prototype for a visualization tool (www.healthvisualization.ca), which represents the conceptual framework for the social determinants of health (CSDH) and new ways to represent related health equity indicators. This tool was used by study participants. The experience of these participants and the usability of the tool were evaluated using qualitative semi-structured interviews. Results: Visualizing the CSDH framework helps to present the social …

Women And Healthcare In Appalachia: Impeding Circumstance And The Role Of Technology, Ashley Cano

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For decades, healthcare access and quality in central and southern Appalachia have trailed the rest of the country. Entrenched poverty and low educational attainment compound healthcare problems. This study examines the healthcare obstacles women encounter in southern and central Appalachia and analyzes how technology use, such as Internet searching and social media affect women’s healthcare decisions. Data were analyzed from four focus groups conducted with women from the region. Results indicate that seeing a physician or not did not influence women’s propensity to search the Internet for health-related information or to seek support through social media sites. Additionally, women reported …

User Acceptance Of Neurology Telemedicine Technology In The Emergency Department, Teresa W. Mcneil

Applied Research Projects

There is currently a significant shortage of trained neurologists in the country. In addition to the shortfall of neurologists, there is an increasing need for this specialty due to an aging population, increase in the incident of neurologic diseases and an increasing demand for healthcare (Freeman, 2013). The development of tele neurology technology has been shown to help address these problems. As with any new technology there are multiple barriers to overcome, one of those being user acceptance of the technology. A survey of users of the telemedicine product VGo was conducted at Hunt Regional Medical Center to access the …

Information Governance: An Investigation Of Interface Errors Between Source And Receiving Systems, Michelle R. Mitcheff

Applied Research Projects

The monitoring of interoperability of information in healthcare organizations is of increasing interest due to patient safety, operational and financial considerations. This monitoring is referred to as information governance (IG) and is a complex topic based on several underlying concepts. Interfacing information at the foundational, structural and semantic level is necessary for meaningful use of health information. Issues that arise range from incongruent transfer of information from source systems to receiving systems, discrepancies in the source system and receiving system and failures in interfacing information. This research project examines information governance from the perspective of failures in interfacing information from …

Electronic Medical Records (Emr): An Empirical Testing Of Factors Contributing To Healthcare Professionals’ Resistance To Use Emr Systems, Emmanuel Patrick Bazile

CCE Theses and Dissertations

The benefits of using electronic medical records (EMRs) have been well documented; however, despite numerous financial benefits and cost reductions being offered by the federal government, some healthcare professionals have been reluctant to implement EMR systems. In fact, prior research provides evidence of failed EMR implementations due to resistance on the part of physicians, nurses, and clinical administrators. In 2010, only 25% of office-based physicians have basic EMR systems and only 10% have fully functional systems. One of the hindrances believed to be responsible for the slow implementation rates of EMR systems is resistance from healthcare professionals not truly convinced …