It's no secret that the U.S. healthcare system is currently facing a dramatic shortage of medical professionals. The effects of the shortage are being seen from primary care offices to hospital emergency rooms. Every time a patient goes, it seems as though there is not enough staff to handle their needs.
However, many expect electronic health records and other forms of healthcare IT to pick up some of the slack in patient care that is being created by a shortage of doctors and nurses. In a recent poll of U.S. healthcare providers conducted by the American Society for Quality, most professionals identified technological advancements as one of the top ways the healthcare system can avert a crisis caused by a lack of qualified staff.
Participants in the survey prioritized the industry's needs. They said that organizations should move to computerized order entry systems for medications, install clinical decision support systems, make telemedicine technology a more common tool, implement automated dose dispensing technology and create disease registries for tracking illness.
All of these moves were seen by providers as potential ways that the healthcare system can compensate for a lack of doctors and nurses. Joe Fortuna, chair of the American Society for Quality's Healthcare division, said that these changes will force healthcare providers to alter the way they do business, but could lead to many improvements.
"Innovations like fast track units and scribe programs are also useful," he said. "Process redesign coupled with culture change, however, can have a huge impact on cost and quality while at the same time ensuring the sustainability of the changes once made."
Many of these changes are already taking place. For example, patient centered medical homes are becoming a popular model of care in which providers use technology like electronic health records and telemedicine tools to track patients and stay in touch with them. This encourages patients to take more ownership of their health and reduces their reliance on the healthcare system, allowing providers to do more with less.
While there may be no silver bullet for solving the doctor shortage that threatens to cripple the U.S. healthcare system, electronic health records could be a major part of the solution. Implementing them wisely could mitigate the impact of this troubling trend.