For the past several years, the use of traditional paper records has been reduced due to electronic patient records. Technology has stepped into the healthcare sector to enhance the accessibility of records and to store them digitally. The reason for this digital or online shift is due to the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to strengthen Health It infrastructure and President Obama’s encouragement of clinicians to use electronic health records software and Electronic Medical Records (EMR) Software as opposed to paper records.
EHR Software use impact on provider-to-provider communication
Regardless of making comprehensive patient health records widely and easily accessible, clinical communication gaps exist mainly amongst primary care physicians (PCPs) and physician specialists. This can lead to miscommunication about patients’ conditions, wasted time and money frustrating both the healthcare provider and the patient.
A recent study in The Annals of Family Medicine revealed that communication among providers suffers even with EHR Software technology. 17% of primary care physicians reported that at times they send clinical information to a specialist upon referral. While 33% of PCPs receive clinical information from the specialist after a patient encounter. 4.9% of primary care physicians never send information.
Impact on the patients due to communication gaps
Insufficient communication is not only harmful to healthcare organizations but can have grave consequences on patient care. Adverse patient impacts may include receiving the wrong procedure or medicine, being given the incorrect medication, or a delay in crucial testing, all of which impact patient outcome levels negatively.
The adverse impacts are also costly. Such as medication error morbidity and mortality annual costs account for $77 billion per year. Communication failures occur when there are shift changes or when the care of a patient is handed over to a different caregiver. When the information exchanged is unclear and inaccurate medical mistakes can occur.
Benefits of effective communication in healthcare
- Enhance the quality of patient care and health outcome levels.
- Improve the patient experience.
- Boost patient satisfaction scores.
- Reduce healthcare costs.
- Lessen stress for providers and keep burnout at bay.
How to overcome communication gaps?
Some methods can help healthcare systems bridge communication gaps to improve patient safety and enhance health outcome levels.
- Leveraging an asynchronous electronic communication tool within the Electronic Health Record (EHR) Software system.
- A standardized communication format should be used to help get clinicians on the same page.
- Workflow processes should be established and they should be audited regularly to make sure that all important medical history is being transmitted to and from referral sources.
When the communication gaps are identified it is easier for organizations to address them quickly before poor communication has an impact on patient care. When provider-to-provider communication is enhanced patient outcomes can be optimized leading to reduced healthcare costs.
