Electronic Health Records Essay

Introduction Electronic health records (also known as ‘e-notes’) have commonly replaced the conventional paper records used in medical facilities. This discussion describes how electronic health records have provided a solution to a range of health care procedures, have offered cost savings and benefits, and still have greater potential for improvement through future efforts. Overall, this discussion documents the progress and demands for further convenience in regards to electronic health records, presenting concepts, statistics, and recent analyses published by authorities on the topic. Through this, it is evident that electronic health notes still have shortcomings that are commonly noted and targeted, but as they have solved many more problems inherent in previous systems, they are the ideal path for development and improvement in this area. Electronic Health Records Since the development of electronic health records, healthcare managers have been able to reach numerous solutions to previous problems in their systems; this has included improved capacities to record and store the clinical and demographic information patients, the capacity to observe or manage the results of laboratory tests, the capacity to give prescriptions, improved ease of managing billing data, and improved facilitation of analysis for clinical decisions. These improvements reveal the nature of challenges and demands relevant to operations using the previous form of records (paper), with electronic health records being substantially more organized, convenient, and manageable. According to Al-Ubaydli (70), the use of paper records â€Å"had several implications. On the one hand, writing on paper fast and easy, so it fits well with clinical workflow. On the other hand, notes are only useful to the person who reads them, no to the one who writes them. When writing, speed and brevity are essential as there are always more patients to visit and care for. But for the reader, speed means illegible handwriting and brevity means incomplete notes. This leads clinicians to ask patients questions to which the answers already exist in the notes† (Al-Ubaydli 70). Moreover, as the author pointed out, paper is more difficult to transfer or copy, leading to it ultimately becoming easiest to keep the records confined to one central place. With this, they cannot move as easily as the patient, and the chore of copying tended to result in the patients being without a complete set of easily accessible records. Meanwhile, there are substantial space and cost requirements associated with storing paper records. The development of computer hardware, software, and improved data storage techniques eventually led to the development of efficient and effective software capable of storing patient data in secure databases, further allowing all data to be stored in a size-efficient manner that could also be easily transmitted. With the development of the internet, patient files could even be stored and transmitted online, providing an ideal backup for databases while improving the capacity for patients to have complete record sets sent to a range of facilities. The general motivation for creating these electronic health records was to address the problems inherent in the paper records, with the most convenient aspect being the cost-effective nature of storage and transmission; the nature of this being a virtually free cost and nearly instantaneous transmission made the desire and changes especially significant. Moreover, electronic health records would allow users to improve the capacity for users to index, sort, and search through records faster than the time demanded to sort through the paper files manually (Al-Ubaydli 70). An additional benefit is the reduced potential for illegible notes, as the nature of the systems means that all data is entered in using clear computerized text characters. As mentioned, similar to the nature of demands and problems evident in the paper records, there are now demands for improving aspects of the electronic records. However, these problems can be addressed through improved organization, software, and other means that does not demand a drastic change in mediums, as was required to address the problems of the paper records. Al-Ubaydli (71) reported that electronic health records â€Å"must include checks and balances to audit and control access. Second, the user interfaces for adding to the records must become easier to that they fit better into clinical workflow and allow clinicians to do more in less time. Speech recognition continues to improve, and the designers of templates continue to innovate.† The author further points out that similar to the improved search engines of the internet (first challenging and then drastically improved with developments like Google), electronic health records can be similarly improved without restructuring comparable to restructuring paper records. Other researchers have analyzed the nature of electronic health records, further elaborating on the nature of solutions and remaining demands. DeVoe et al. (351) pointed out that the clear and detailed recording of all received and recommended services should be considered the most vital aspect of health records, which is most effectively addressed through electronic records rather than paper records. This further assists with insurance aspects, as the detailed and accurate aspects of recording services can improve coordination with claims and related demands. DeVoe et al. (352) further asserted that electronic health records have the potential to assist researchers and policy makers with overcoming prior restrictions in examining services provided in CHCs. Meanwhile, Hoffman and Podgurski (425) reported on the growth of health care and pharmaceutical costs, frequency of unnecessary medical procedures, evoked healthcare reforms, and critical roles of records in all of these processes. With this, comparative effectiveness research (CER) has commonly been coupled with electronic health records to show that many expensive procedures have had less desirable outcomes for comparable conditions that less expensive ones, pointing out the nature of some health care facilities and physicians. Meanwhile, however, some have argued that CER is likely to lead to limited patient choices, improper rationing of health care, homogenized care, and potentially refusal of needed treatments (Hoffman and Podgurski 425). Congress allocated $1.1 billion to CER through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, which included other aspects of improving and restructuring facilities. Soon it became evident that a unique application of CER could allow physicians to improve their decisions regarding treatment, as when coupled with electronic health records, physicians could conduct computer inquiries across a large database of patient records. Naturally, this would provide a valuable supplement to the patient’s history and literature. Hoffman and Podgurski (425) recommended that software be designed to summarize findings of queries by presenting the most relevant outcomes of patients with the most comparable conditions, while records be developed and stored in a manner which facilitates this. Thus, personalized comparison of treatment effectiveness or PCTE could become a phrase more common than CER in the future. Conclusion Electronic health care records have solved many of the problems that could not be effectively addressed through developments in the paper systems, with major improvements in the capacity to copy and transfer records, cost of storage, and clarity of information. Although this has led to implications for security and excessive copying, databases have been developed to improve the concerns in these areas. Moreover, researchers have proposed additional improvements in development as well as use, with records having the potential to serve as an informal accessible databank, thereby improving understanding and decision making. Works Cited Al-Ubaydli, Mohammad. Personal Health Records: A Guide for Clinicians. John Wiley & Sons: New York, NY, 2011. DeVoe, Jennifer, Rachel Gold, Patti McIntire, Jon Puro, and Susan Chauvie. â€Å"Electronic Health Records vs Medicaid Claims: Completeness of Diabetes Preventive Care Data in Community Health Centers.† Annals of Family Medicine 9.4 (2011): 351-358. Hoffman, Sharona and Andy Podgurski. â€Å"Improving Health Care Outcomes through Personalized Comparisons of Treatment Effectiveness Based on Electronic Health Records.† Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 39.3 (2011): 425-436.

Thomas Jefferson’s Vision of a Free Holding Yeoman Society

Thomas Jefferson is considered as one of the most influential personalities in the history of the US. Jefferson who was the third President of the United States is regarded as one of the most prominent figures in the US, is characteristically known for his ideological promotions of republicanism in his stint as the president. Some of the famous events that are associated with his presidency include the 1803 Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition during the period between 1804 and 1806. Thomas Jefferson is also accredited for authoring the Declaration of Independence and since he was a philosophical thinker and politician, he idealized the concept of a free holding yeoman society which was a series of complex ideologies which emphasized various virtues. It was during the 18th century that a number of influential â€Å"poets, politicians and economists created in America a complex of ideas which has been called the Jeffersonian myth† (Hess, 1992). This concept generally emphasized various virtues with simplicity and purity leading and the principal dictated a variety of social choices. The Yeoman term generally refers to farmers who usually cultivate their own land. The yeoman thus can be considered as a small farmer who holds a piece of land. Since Jefferson hailed from this type of yeoman society, he had first class experience of the issues and challenges they faced and therefore in his presidency he decided to make amends so as to ensure that this class in the society was prosperous. This philosophy was coined in a time that could be considered appropriate for a country that was settled by â€Å"land hungry men† (Hess, 1992). Most English men were used to a social system in which the ownership of land was a symbol of a man’s stand in the society and the political power that he yielded. Thomas Jefferson and J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur came up with a philosophy that dictated the natural rights of any man to own land and that the ownership of land by any man obviously gives him a social status and dignity. The philosophy goes further to describe how mans interaction with nature â€Å"makes him virtuous and happy†. This philosophical thinking as Jefferson and his colleague tend to challenge the government is that it â€Å"should be dedicated to the interests of the freehold farmer† (Hess, 1992). This policies and principles held a lot of significance for Jefferson who is considered as the brains behind the western land policy. In Jefferson’s own words he described the small and self sufficient as â€Å"the chosen people of God† and thus asserted their importance if the new republic would have any chance to survive. Jefferson described the â€Å"virtuous yeoman† as the moral backbone that would lead the nation to greater heights and thus prosperity would be easily achievable (Hess, 1992). The issue of land was embedded deep in Jefferson’s heart and he believed that it was the core of an envisioned republic. Thomas Jefferson had a landscape vision that mainly depended on the unlimited expansion of most of the wilderness in the country and thus make it the peoples will to settle and subdue it for settlement and cultivation purposes. This vision was just a vision and its applicability mainly depended on the prudence of the government of that period in applying the â€Å"public land policies fairly and justly†. Jefferson held the belief in his heart that â€Å"land was the clay from which a free society would be molded and preserved† (Hess, 1992). However, one of the issues that he had to deal with was those of religion. Although religion was a predominant force during his government, it had failed to provide what Jefferson’s landscape vision promised to produce. Land in this era was considered to offer the much needed cohesion and was therefore viewed as an â€Å"icon of secular religion† (Hess, 1992). The success of Jefferson‘s policies and philosophical thinking are still evident today and the western range is the product of his landscape vision. The landscape vision which was envisioned in the â€Å"Jeffersonian agrarianism† was built on a firm foundation (Hess, 1992). This had the obvious effects of spilling its advantages in the years that were to follow and most of its effects are still visible today. The western range which was a harsh testament of nature in the state of a wilderness became a land that would become exceedingly abundant. However, the alteration of nature and its overuse can be considered as one of the negative aspects of his landscape vision. Various factors one of them being drought led to the overstocking of the ranges in a way that nature was almost strained beyond its holding capacity and thus became unforgiving with adverse effects. Collisions among farmers with diverse wants is also a major shortcomings but the experience that was gained from the harsh reactions of nature served to teach the inhabitants valuable lessons and thus take some measures into considerations during when setting future plans.

System Implementation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

System Implementation - Essay Example All the different types of users have limited privileges for their data as well as other users’ data. For example, the customer can only view but cannot insert, delete, or update their information. Consequently, that makes our system more secure. The principle involved designing very simple web pages for all the users. These simple pages view served the security features that were used. For example, the page shows three choices for them that are accessing their data, or customer data or transaction data. That occurs if the user is an employee. If the user selects their information, the page displays a table with the user’s information only. However, the pages that are designed to look for the customer contains two input fields to search for the client based on their id or first name. For instance, if the Employee wants to look for their customer’s information. In this situation, we applied the feature of a prepared statement and variable binding in Java JDBC component in order to avoid any vulnerability in our project. The system also applied this principle. There were no standard mechanisms for our users that will cause extreme effects. Every user has his mechanism, privilege, and flow. The Manager works differently from the employee or the customer. Moreover, we created users in the database for each category. Thus, the user who uses the database as manager1 is different from manager2. The concept is taken care in the attack phase. We exposed the system designs and security mechanisms to other teams. That helped us a lot because it is better to know about the System’s weaknesses and vulnerabilities from friends before the attackers. In this situation, we can fix and update the missing points and errors quickly. Further, we don’t need to batch after the attacker misusing.

Strategic and Planning Management (Bachelor of Business) Essay

Strategic and Planning Management (Bachelor of Business) - Essay Example For new businesses, theorists have proposed various strategic business models. These models include analytical models and models for promoting an organizational system. It depends on the mission, nature, and goals of organizations that which of the models are effective and can be best applied. The models that are discussed frequently in the literature are SWOT and PESTLE, which are used for the business environment analysis (Kachru, 2009). Similarly, the literature also highlights extrinsic analytical models such as Porter’s Five Forces model, which identifies the competition, challenges, regulations and patterns of the new market. Keeping all such models in consideration, this study is going to develop an organizational business plan (Kachru, 2009). The models projected are to be applied in the business perspective to bring effective results for organization and its core services. The theme of the organization is a hotel providing hospitality, tourism, and food services. This is to construct a bridge a relationship between marketing principles, models, and effective organizational plan and system. According to the business literature, when a new business intends to emerge it starts off with deep, critical and intensive planning. Planning is vibrantly important whether it is strategic planning or corporate business planning they are important for a new business (Verardo, 1997). According to David Bangs, business plans have a significant relationship with the starting up of the business (Bangs, 2002). Plans affect starting decisions and decisions bring actions which eventually give foundation to the new business. The same implies to a new hotel business if it wants to get started it has to start with decisive planning stage (Dubrin, 2008, p. 122). As per the theorists’ perspective the starting planning phase is all

Jonathan Edwards Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Jonathan Edwards - Research Paper Example He was very much interested in different areas of science, ideologies and thoughts and especially in the world of philosophy (Sander-Cederlof, 1974). Edwards became very well aware of all the modern philosophical and theological issues and became familiar with the writing of John Locke and his ‘Essay concerning human understanding’ especially influenced Edward during the period of his study at Yale College. The ideological clashes and arguments between the orthodox Calvinism and its challenging movements such as Deism, Arianism and Angilical Arminianism were included in his studies along with such ideas as British Empiricism and continental Rationalism which were originated in Europe (Jonathan Edwards: Biography). Edwards was dedicated to express his innovative ideas in front of the great personalities of the Enlightenment. He synthesized protestant theology with Newton’s physics, the third earl of Shaftesbury’s aesthetics, Locke’s psychology and Mal ebranche’s moral philosophy and thereby provided a recasting to Calvinism. Metaphysics and natural philosophy were the other important areas of his interest and one could find his exclusive writings on this topics.

International communication and negotiation Term Paper

International communication and negotiation - Term Paper Example for negotiations through taking into consideration the kind of differences, which happen across these two different cultures, as well as pointing out likely pitfalls of lack of awareness to cultural factors. This two groups fall under Monochronic timers. The opt for prompt stars and ends to a meeting, they value breaks and deal with one item at a time (Weldon and Jehn 388). They depend on specific, exclusive and open communication and prefer to talk in sequence. Their main difference comes with the focus on the future, present or past. Americans tend to focus more on the present and near-future, but Indonesians strictly negotiate on long-term future goals (Adler 98). Also, there is space orientations when it comes to comparing the American and Indonesian culture. This has to do with territory, comfortable personal distance, division between public and private, comfort with physical touch and eye contact, as well as expectation concerning how and where contact will take place (Adler 98). It is an American etiquette that when you meet someone, do not stand too close to them as they deem it annoying to the other individual, thus maintain your physical distance. In Indonesia, women are alwa ys seeing holding hands with other women as they talk , but not men (Adler 102). Also, when it comes to eye contact, maintaining eye contact with an American is considered as sign of courage and assurance, but when it comes to Indonesians, looking down while talking to someone is considered as a sign of respect (Lederach 65). Furthermore, wondering your eyes from the person you are negotiating with in American is deemed as a sign of embarrassment or disagreement. American negotiators are more inclined to depend on personal values, imagining self, as well as others, as independent, autonomous and self-reliant (Graham 19). This does not imply that they do not consider consulting, but the likelihood to perceive self as separate instead of a member of a network or web means that more

The effect of gender minority status on womens experience of Essay

The effect of gender minority status on womens experience of male-dominated work and mens experience of female-dominated work - Essay Example They were established at a time when those roles made sense for the survival of the human race as is realized with the dedicated role of women in child care. But with advancing technology, some of the roles that have been attributed to various gender is becoming obsolete. However, people still make assumptions about roles of men and women through these stereotypical notions that claim to apply to all men and women in the world. Some of the roles associated with women include preparing and serving food but most important, taking care of children. Even with the games that are played at this age, it is evident that women are supposed to stay at home, cook, clean and take care of the children while males are supposed to go to work. From a young age, boys are taught more roles that are considered 'manly' like mowing the lawn and taking out the trash instead of the more 'womanly' roles of cleaning the house (Chodorow, 2004). The stereotypes however do not apply to all men and women in society. Each individual in society is often free to act as they please, a factor that has realized an increase in the number of women who have taken up manly roles and vice versa (Schein, 2005). It is considered normal for a woman to pursue roles that are manlier like construction and men to pursue roles that are more feminine like cooking and cleaning.Gender should not be the basis by which a person's identity is created; it should merely be a part of someone's personality. It is on the basis of this understanding that conflicting roles have come up for both men and women in society. Gender minority status results when a person decides to engage in a profession that is considered less suitable for their gender. (Lupton, 2000). They are thus considered the minority members of the particular profession because they are either less in number or they are simply taking up roles that make them be considered either lesser males or females. This is considered in light of the belittling roles that women have been subjected to over the years because of their gender orientation. In the past, there were certain jobs that were reserved for male gender owing to their intensive nature. It was thus considered as work that women could not engage in and if they did, there would be repercussions. Society would regard them as misfits and socialization with them would be naturally forbidden or undertaken under different scenarios (Chodorow, 2004). Gender minority status results from observed differences in behavior and personality between the genders that result from a person's innate personality. Personality is affected by culture and social interaction with other members of society and is largely not att ributable to physiological and biological differences. There are those who perceive that children learn to orient themselves towards their gender roles as a result of their learned observations and interactions with their environment (Chodorow, 2004). Boys are often provided with tools that are used to manipulate their environment like vehicles, trucks and engines while females are often dressed up with pink frilly dresses and provided with dolls that have pretty hair and makeup. In so doing, girls learn that they are objects to be viewed and as such