NURS FPX 8012 Assessment 3 : SAFER Guides and Evaluating Technology Usage

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SAFER Guides and Evaluating Technology Usage

The SAFER guides are a holistic set of tools that help a healthcare organization evaluate the factors of safety and risk associated with electronic health records (EHR) and associated technology (Sittig et al., 2022). Designed by the ONC, this guide is set in nine modules, which explain high-priority practices, the responsibilities of organizational structures, the need for contingency plans, and considerations for system interfaces. Each guide provides step-by-step checklists and suggestions to ensure conformance with standards for safety, identify potential weaknesses, and help optimize the health IT system’s performance. NURS FPX 8012 Assessment 3 : SAFER Guides and Evaluating Technology Usage Implementing the SAFER Guides step by step would allow health professionals to identify well-performing areas that may need improvement toward mitigating various risks, for example, the risk of a breach of data, a system failure, or workflow inefficiency. This structured approach not only supports compliance with regulations like HIPAA and the CURES Act but also fosters a culture of safety and resilience in healthcare settings.

Proposed Technology Implementation

An advanced CDS tool integration of robust electronic health records (EHRs) will be implemented to enhance access to holistic comprehensive and real-time data about patients for better improvement of patient care (Calduch et al., 2021). The System is going to help in care team communication support in proper documentation and well-informed, data-driven decisions. Medication reconciliation alerts, predictive analytics for at-risk patients, and automated reminders for preventive care are some of the key features that will be incorporated. The EHR will also feature secure patient portals to enhance engagement and transparency in the healthcare delivery process. Patients will have the ability to take charge of their health care. All these features will work towards improving safety, quality, and efficiency in health care delivery.

The preliminary goals include reducing medication errors by 25%, improving adherence to clinical guidelines through automation of prompts, and increasing the patient satisfaction score by enhancing access and management capabilities of health information (Nwosu et al., 2024). Additionally, the technology intends to streamline workflows, bringing down documentation time for clinicians by 15%, to leave more time with patients. Leverage the SAFER Guides during planning to identify potential risks such as data breaches, system usability issues, and interoperability gaps proactively and address them before implementing the system effectively and securely. These goals will help support a larger objective: promoting a safer, more efficient, and patient-centered healthcare environment.

SAFER Guides Findings in Areas of Strength in Technology Implementation

The SAFER Guides results show that the selected healthcare environment excels in matters to do with medication safety and safe handling of data, both of which will be directly in support of the proposed EHR system, coupled with sophisticated CDS tools (Devin, 2023). For example, the “High-Priority Practices” module noted that the organization has sound policies regarding medication reconciliation and has an established procedure to ensure patient allergies and drug interactions are checked before prescriptions are made. This foundation is compatible with the reduction of medication errors through alerts from CDS, thus ensuring that the system fits well with already adopted practices.

In addition, the “Patient Identification” SAFER Guide showed that this healthcare environment has excellent compliance with practices for patients identified accurately, for example, through the process of barcoding and dual verification, thereby minimizing errors in documentation and treatments (Montgomery & Wei, 2023). This is brought to fruition by standard flows in that environment as well as the regular staff training that is conducted on the best practices. With such strengths, this EHR system proposed can indeed form a trusted and reliable input of data with this capability toward creating accurate action recommendations. Results do point toward some risks identified above, while health care providers operate on the bedrock solid for critical areas to deliver a solid, sound opportunity in the critical spaces proposed technology intends to fill up with.

SAFER Guides Findings for Identified Risks and Challenges

The SAFER Guide findings identified various risks that surround the proposed EHR system and CDS tools in the chosen healthcare environment (Erfan Shakibaei Bonakdeh et al., 2024). Among the risks identified is the “Contingency Planning” module, which reveals that there are deficient disaster recovery procedures and downtime procedures in place. Although the organization had some basic outage protocols in place, the results of the SAFER assessment indicated that these were never tested or revised, making it vulnerable to a loss of data or service due to an unforeseen event. For instance, there was no clear procedure about how to obtain critical patient information in case the system was out for an extended period, potentially delaying care and putting patients at risk.

In the “System Interfaces” module, another significant risk was identified; that is, gaps in interoperability between the proposed EHR system and the existing legacy systems. Such gaps may lead to incomplete data exchange, such as missing laboratory results or medication histories, which can lead to clinical errors. For example, the evaluation detected that some older infusion pumps were incompatible with the proposed EHR system, thereby creating a problem for its smooth integration. More importantly, Test Results Reporting and Follow-Up revealed that there was inconsistency in how test results are delivered to providers, thus posing a likelihood of delayed follow-up on patients and negative impacts on their care. These risks point out the necessity for a complete risk mitigation plan before the proposed technology is implemented that would help reduce these vulnerabilities.

The ethical and legal considerations that must be taken into account for implementing healthcare technology involve data security and compliance  (Thapa & Camtepe, 2021). Ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of patient data would no longer just be a matter of morality but of legal obligation, as cited by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Failure to adhere to such principles will come with severe consequences including loss of accreditation and a damaged reputation. Additionally, the CURES Act buttresses the ethical impulse of ensuring that patients should be allowed unrestricted access to their health information even as it protects the same against unauthorized breaches. To that end, adopting such sophisticated informatics solutions within healthcare organizations necessitates ensuring these advanced technologies and data security features meet robust standards for ethical and legal considerations such as encryption, multi-factor authentication, and audit mechanisms. Besides that, proper training on compliance policies, building an accountable culture, and staff involvement can further mitigate risk by respecting patient information.

Reflection on the Use of SAFER Guides

I find the application of the SAFER Guides to be very insightful, where a structured assessment reveals risks and places appropriate priorities on where improvement efforts must be made in healthcare technology. The systemic nature of these guides allowed for a clear, structured evaluation both of strengths and vulnerabilities, helping me to expose critical areas – such as interoperability challenges and gaps in contingency planning – that could potentially impede the proposed EHR implementation (Salami et al., 2024). This process, therefore, emphasizes risk assessment to ensure that the issues that might arise do not become huge problems.

In my future practice, I will benefit enormously from this experience as I become a leader in implementing and managing healthcare technologies. I will, therefore, use the knowledge learned from the SAFER Guides in conducting better and more thorough evaluations, designing strategies for risk mitigation, and maintaining a culture of safety and continuous improvement. The guides have further reinforced the need to balance innovation with compliance to ensure that technology implementation is in alignment with ethical, legal, and professional standards for improving patient care and organizational resilience.

Conclusion 

The SAFER Guides offer a comprehensive and structured way of examining the implementation of healthcare technologies, uncovering strengths and risk areas (Seoni et al., 2023). An assessment highlights the need for serious modifications in addressing problems about interoperability, enhancing contingency planning, and adherence to ethical and legal considerations. Through the use of SAFER Guides, healthcare organizations will be able to strategically identify vulnerabilities and focus on improvements to ensure better system performance. To this end, such a process both informs the DNP-prepared nurse as an effective implementor of informatics solutions and gives strength to change leadership, advocating for patient safety, and helping ensure that technological initiatives are held to the very highest standards. This reflective practice provides a framework for moving the personal practice but also the mission of health care innovation forward.

References

Calduch, E., Muscat, N., Krishnamurthy, R. S., & Ortiz, D. (2021). Technological progress in electronic health record system optimization: Systematic review of systematic literature reviews. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 152(1), 104507. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2021.104507

Devin, J. (2023, November 28). Evaluation of health information technologies concerning medication safety, workflow, and data usage potential in maternal and newborn care. Repository.rcsi.com. https://repository.rcsi.com/articles/thesis/Evaluation_of_health_information_technologies_with_respect_to_medication_safety_workflow_and_data_usage_potential_in_maternal_and_newborn_care/20732404

Erfan Shakibaei Bonakdeh, Sohal, A., Koorosh Rajabkhah, Prajogo, D., Melder, A., Dinh Quy Nguyen, Bingham, G., & Tong, E. (2024). Influential factors in the adoption of clinical decision support systems in hospital settings: a systematic review and meta-synthesis of qualitative studies. Industrial Management + Data Systems. https://doi.org/10.1108/imds-08-2022-0484

Montgomery, C., & Wei, E. (2023). Patient identification. Springer EBooks, 75–87. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35933-0_6

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