Review the Case Study on page 454 of Nelson & Staggers. Provide a response in a Word document of 350 to 500 words. Support your discussion with evidence from the professional literature. Two (2) peer reviewed journal article required.
CASE STUDY
Last month you were hired with the title Health Informatics
Specialist at an independent community care hospital with
350 beds. The hospital includes a comprehensive outpatient
clinic, a rehabilitation center with both inpatient and outpa-
tient services, a cardiac care center, and an emergency room
In addition, four family health centers are located throughout
the community. More than 930 primary care and specially,
physicians are associated with the hospital, which has a staff
of just over 2000 employees. The hospital has an EHR
in place
The hospital has a working relationship with a major aca-
demic medical center located 23 miles away. Acute care
patients who need more extensive treatment are usually trans-
ferred to the medical center. These are often emergency situ-
ations, and data are freely shared among the institutions with
the best interests of the patient in mind.
Located directly beside the hospital is a 194-bed skilled
nursing home. While the nursing home has its own medical
staff consisting of a physician and two nurse practitioners,
patients needing consults or additional care are usually seen
at the hospital with follow-up at physicians’ offices. While
the nursing home, most of the physicians’ offices, and the hos-
pital are independent institutions, there is a long history of
sharing health-related data when treating patients who live
at the nursing home and are seen at the hospital or in the phy.
sicians’ offices. This coordination is seen as a general benefit
for a number of patients. It appears that most patients have
signed a form giving the hospital permission to send informa:
ton to the nursing home. However, these forms have been
stored in individual offices, so it is difficult to determine
who has signed what forms and what permission has or
has not been given to share information among the nursing
home, hospital, and independent medical practices.
Discussion Questions
- What additional information is needed to clarify what
problems may exist and what changes may be needed in
terms of data that are shared among the institutions? - Can the EHR system and/or e-mail be used to share data
among these different institutions more effectively and
securely? If yes, how would this be done? For example,
what agreements, policies, and procedures might need to
be developed? - In your position as Health Informatics Specialist, how
would you go about determining whether there are other
potential security issues that now need to be managed by
the hospital?
Sample Solution
