When I first heard about the Electric Health Record, I immediately thought of a great way to send and find information from one facility to another. I think of programs like EPIC that allow health systems, such as MaineHealth, to share patient information across the state. From the perspective of a college student, I think of EHR as a useful tool for someone who moves away from their primary care provider. Health information exchange is a great tool that can both benefit the patient and provider. For providers, especially nurses, it allows us to better provide for our patients. We can do this by being up to date with any appointments, medications given, or interventions. For example, if a patient goes to one facility and receives a prescription and then goes to another, the nurse can see this on their EHR. HER can help enhance communication while decreasing the number of unnecessary tests and procedures. 

 I found the presentation to be really helpful getting across the information regarding EHR. I didn’t know the large scale that it works on. I always thought of it as a local thing for health systems but not cross-country. My future in nursing will be shaped by the EHR. If my future facility uses the EHR, I will be able to get a bigger picture regarding my patients. Benefits of EHR include coordination between providers, reduction of unnecessary tests and procedures, and allows providers to have direct access to health records (Benefits of health IT). I’m excited to see how the medical field will continue to change with the use of EHR. I hope to see a reduction in mistakes (medications, procedures) and an increase in positive patient outcomes.

Benefits of Health it. HealthIT.gov. (2017, September 15). Retrieved October 21, 2021, from https://www.healthit.gov/topic/health-it-and-health-information-exchange-basics/benefits-health-it.