NR361 Week 4 Discussion: Your patient has a Personal Health Record… Now what?

Purpose

This week’s graded discussion topic relates to the following Course Outcomes (COs).

  • CO4 Investigate safeguards and decision-making support tools embedded in patient care technologies and information systems to support a safe practice environment for both patients and healthcare workers. (PO 4)
  • CO5 Identify patient care technologies, information systems, and communication devices that support safe nursing practice. (PO 5)

Due Date

  • During the assigned week (Sunday the start of the assigned week through Sunday the end of the assigned week):
    • Posts in the discussion at least two times, and
    • Posts in the discussion on two different days

Points Possible

50 points

Directions

  • Discussions are designed to promote dialogue between faculty and students, and students and their peers. In discussions students:
    • Demonstrate understanding of concepts for the week
    • Integrate outside scholarly sources when required
    • Engage in meaningful dialogue with classmates and/or instructor
    • Express opinions clearly and logically, in a professional manner
  • Use the rubric on this page as you compose your answers.
  • Best Practices include:
    • Participation early in the week is encouraged to stimulate meaningful discussion among classmates and instructor.
    • Enter the discussion often during the week to read and learn from posts.
    • Select different classmates for your reply each week.
Discussion Question

 

Case Study: A 65-year-old woman was 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.

SOLUTION

Question 1

The situation presented in this case study is outsourcing healthcare services. The advantage of outsourcing services is that it is cost-effective. Moreover, experts in that particular field can handle the services better, thus allowing for the staff in the healthcare organization to focus on other aspects. The disadvantage of outsourcing healthcare services is that it may be time-consuming to receive samples, thus limiting patient access to their health records. Other reasons to not utilize a PHR could include no internet access and disabilities, including cognitive and physical (Heba 2019).

Question 2

Patient portals are adequately safeguarded to ensure that patient information is kept away from the reach of unauthorized hands. In healthcare, patient information could be easily manipulated if it lands in unauthorized hands. Please click the purchase button to access the entire copy at $5