Review this scenario:
A patient named A. Watsoncox arrives alone in the emergency department with altered mental status and trauma due to a motor vehicle accident (MVA). She is registered in the emergency medical record (EMR) from a previous visit. A new encounter and record is started for A. Watsoncox.
According to the EMR, she has no allergies and is taking no medications daily.
Before being taken to surgery, she is given Rocephin, 1 gram. She has difficulty breathing and a severe rash after the medication infuses.
It is discovered after the patient is stabilized that an error was made during her last registration. Her name is A. Watson-Cox. There are two records for her in the EMR database.
To prepare:
Review the scenario.
Identify the electronic health records (EHR) data integrity and security issues that may be present in the scenario.
Consider ways to avoid duplication of records that may apply to the scenario.
Review the Learning Resources, focusing on the concepts related to data quality.
Research the Walden Library for literature related to data quality and select two articles to use in your Assignment.
Walden Library recommends the following:
Start with the Nursing Research Databases in the Walden Library. For some of the more technical research topics, also consider using the Information Systems & Technology databases. Try more than one database as needed.
Perform a basic search with one of the concepts presented.
Use quotation marks around a phrase like “data mining”
Do not select any limiters yet.
Look at the results, especially the title and subject words to see related concepts and terms to add to your search.
Use or between related words, which means either term is acceptable. Example: machine learning or artificial intelligence
Add a second concept in Box 2 to focus your search. It helps to keep concepts separate, especially when multiple boxes are provided.
Try adding healthcare as a separate concept, particularly if using an information systems database.
Refine your results depending on what you find. Don’t be afraid to try other words or combinations of words to get a sizeable hitlist. Then you can apply limits.
Limits: Scroll down in the left column to limit by date (last 5 years) and limit the results to peer-reviewed scholarly journals only. It helps to do this after you know that you have performed a successful search and identified possible synonyms and sub-topics.
To retrieve the full text of individual items, click on the Find@Walden button and follow the prompts. Sometimes this step takes persistence, since there are so many different publishers supplying content to these databases.
Ask a Librarian if you need help!
Consider how you would turn your analyses into a plan to prevent emergency medical record (EMR) errors in the future, and support your suggestions with your chosen articles.
Assignment (3- to 5-page paper excluding the cover page and references):
Develop a plan to prevent emergency medical record (EMR) errors related to data quality and integrity based on the scenario.
Your plan should contain an introduction that clearly identifies and explains data integrity and security issues relevant to the electronic medical records (EMR) in the scenario.
State your proposed plan, which should contain three strategies to ensure data integrity.
Explain your rationale for each strategy in the plan.
Include a brief summary that highlights how your plan can improve data handling and integrity.
Be specific and provide examples. Support your plan with your peer reviewed research from the Walden Library.
