NR 361 Week 4 Discussion; Your Patient Has a Personal Health Record. . .Now What

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Kevin Hunter

Category

Nursing

Course

NR 361 Information Systems In Healthcare

Institute

Chamberlain

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8

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NR 361 Week 4 Discussion: Your Patient Has a Personal Health Record . . . Now What Case Study: A 65-year-old woman has just been diagnosed with Stage 3 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. She was informed of this diagnosis in her primary care physician’s office. She leaves her physician's office and goes home to review all of her tests and lab results with her family. She goes home and logs into her PHR. She is only able to pull up a portion of her test results. She calls her physician’s office with this concern. The office staff discussed that she had part of her lab work completed at a lab not connected to the organization, part was completed at the emergency room, and part was completed in the lab that is part of the doctor's office organization. The above scenario might be a scenario that you have commonly worked with in clinical practice. For many reasons, patients often receive healthcare from multiple organizations that might have different systems. As you review this scenario, reflect and answer these questions for this discussion. What are the pros and cons of the situation in the case study? What safeguards are included in patient portals and PHRs to help patients and healthcare professionals ensure safety? Do you agree or disagree with the way that a patient obtains Personal Health Records (PHRs)? What are challenges for patients that do not have access to all of the PHRs? Remember, only portions of the EHRs are typically included in the PHRs. Answer: Personal health records have numerous pros and cons. The pros of the situation in the case study are that the patient is able to review her test results and lab results with her family and that she is able to call her physician's office with any concerns (Hebda et al., 2019). The cons of the situation in the case study are that the patient is only able to pull up a portion of her test results and that she might have to coordinate with multiple organizations to get her complete medical records. There are a few safeguards that are included in patient portals and PHRs to help patients and healthcare professionals ensure safety. One is that patient portals and PHRs typically require a login and password, so that only the patient and authorized healthcare professionals can access the information (Parikh, 2018). Another safeguard is that patient portals and PHRs typically have a way to track who has accessed the information and when, so that any unauthorized access can be detected. Finally, most patient portals and PHRs have some level of encryption to protect the information from being accessed by anyone who should not have access. I agree with the way that a patient obtains Personal Health Records (PHRs). I think that itis a great way for patients to have access to their own health information and to be able to share it with their healthcare providers (Lynch, 2017). I think that this can help to improve communication between patients and their providers and to make sure that everyone is on the same page when it comes to the patient's health. I think that the challenges for patients that do not have access to all of the PHRs are that they might not be able to get the full picture of their health. They might only be able to see a portion of their test results or lab work, and they might not be able to see the full extent of their illness. References Hebda, T., Hunter, K., & Czar, P., (2019). Handbook of informatics for nurses & healthcare professionals (6th ed.) Pearson. Lynch, J. (2017). Access to health records by the patient. Health Records in Court, 125–13

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