The quest to improve patient care is a continuous effort in the medical field.
An excerpt from a 2002 report by the National Library of Medicine lists the determining factors of the quality of patient care as follows:
- The quality of infrastructure
- Quality of training
- Competence of personnel
- The efficiency of operational systems
Twenty years later, the medical system is still struggling to make operating systems more efficient. And they’re still trying to improve healthcare document management.
This ongoing lack of interoperability in healthcare delays information and postpones treatment. A patient, nurse, and physician share experiences of how disconnected data reduces the quality of care.
Prolonged Procedures
When medical workers spend too much time searching for patient data, they delay treatment. Physicians and nurses can’t proceed with care without certain information like imaging and test results. So they must delay the diagnosis — which prolongs the procedure.
The National Library of Medicine lists “misdiagnosis, delay in diagnosis, or failure to utilize the appropriate test as well as a failure to act on the laboratory result” as a common healthcare problem. It’s a big issue. In fact, one of the Joint Commission’s National Patient Safety Goals for 2023 is to “get important test results to the right staff person on time.”
For example, what happens when a surgeon doesn’t have imaging for a patient in their electronic health records (EHR) system? They must request the information from the lab that did the studies. The surgeon can’t decide how to treat the patient until they review the images.
“If someone comes to you with lower back pain or nerve symptoms, and they don't have imaging, it’s hard to know. There’s just a delay.” — MD, interventional pain physician
When the surgeon doesn’t have access to the lab’s EHR, they must wait for the facility to send the information at their convenience. In this case, disconnected data causes the surgeon to delay treatment while the patient’s condition possibly deteriorates.
“You have to put in the order, have the patient find time on their schedule to go get the imaging done, and then come back. But if I had it at my fingertips, then I could see more patients. I could be more efficient.” — MD, interventional pain physician
Missing Information
In emergencies, healthcare workers must make treatment decisions based on the information they have at the moment. There’s no time to search for more data or develop new insights.
Medical decisions improve when all the pieces of the puzzle are present. Filling in gaps of missing information leads to better treatment and fewer mistakes.
“Providing real-time patient information, medication profiles, laboratory values, drug information, and documentation reduces errors.” — Medical Error Reduction and Prevention
For example, when a person having a heart attack comes into a hospital, a nurse needs to get up to speed quickly on the patient’s history. The more information they can learn about prior procedures, the better decision they can make about treatment.
“Maybe they've already had a heart attack before. Maybe they’ve had coronary stenting put in the past.” — RN, board-certified in cardiovascular nursing
But if the heart attack patient has never been to the facility, their records won’t be in the nurse’s EHR. So they must call the patient’s provider to find and send data to the hospital — likely by fax. In this case, disconnected data prevent the nurse from treating the patient to the best of their ability.
“If we had other information available, we would know the year, what was done, and where the stent was put in. It would be invaluable if we had that right away.” — RN, board-certified in cardiovascular nursing
Developing Conditions
For some diseases, early detection may be a matter of life or death. The sooner healthcare workers know what condition they’re treating, the better care they can give to a patient.
“Early detection of localized cancer or, preferably, a premalignant lesion may allow definitive treatment that will prevent the disease from progressing.” — Screening: When Is It Appropriate and How Can We Get It Right?
But if a patient unknowingly has cancer — and is still waiting for test results to tell them — their condition could worsen. Yet, they can’t start treatment without a diagnosis.
“Appropriate treatment will prevent disability and premature death.” — Screening: When Is It Appropriate and How Can We Get It Right?
For example, a patient gets free yearly health screenings because of toxic dust exposure during their deployment to New York City after 9/11. The screenings are at an outpatient facility associated with the program. But the patient’s primary care physician (PCP) doesn’t immediately receive the results.
“The doctor is unable to view important test results in a timely manner.” — Patient
Because the outpatient facility and the PCP have different EHRs, they can’t exchange data in real time. As a result, the patient is unsure about their health status until their PCP gets the information. In this case, disconnected data may delay notification of a condition that’s advancing as time passes.
“If any of the results ever resulted in the need to have medication or urgent medical attention, this would cause a lot of problems.” — Patient
Interoperability Improves the Quality of Patient Care
The quality of patient care improves when nurses and physicians have instant access to data. Healthcare interoperability achieves this goal.
With more efficient healthcare data management, medical workers get the details they need — when they need them. This support enables them to make better, timely treatment decisions.
zPaper helps streamline the exchange of critical patient documentation and data across channels. Talk to a team member today about our direct message, digital fax, and document generation solutions.
