NR361: RN Information Systems in Healthcare Health, Medicine Essay

Computerized Provider Order Entry
Your Name
Chamberlain College of Nursing
NR361: RN Information Systems in Healthcare
Term Month and Year
Computerized Provider Order Entry
Medicine’s digital transformation in the last decade has been pioneered by the introduction of the computerized provider order entry system. This system has enabled medical practitioners to move away from handwritten paper orders and into electronic orders (AHRQ Patient Safety Network, 2018). Electronic orders made in the system are then transmitted automatically to the intended recipient. The digital transformation has been spurred by the introduction of the Meaningful Use program and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinic Health Act of 2009 which have created an enabling environment for the implementation of the computerized provider order entry system in both outpatient and inpatient settings (AHRQ Patient Safety Network, 2018). Presently, most of the hospitals in the United States utilize the order entry system, and this has led to increased benefits for both patients and medical practitioners (AHRQ Patient Safety Network, 2018). The computerized provider order entry system has reduced the number of errors which were previously recorded in medication orders since the new system allows for electronic orders to be made on consultations, procedures, and tests. Nonetheless, there are some unintended consequences attributed to the widespread application of the computerized provider order entry system and which mostly stem from the digitization of critical health care procedures. Even so, the benefits outweigh the costs of the system’s implementation as it has had an overall positive impact on patient care processes, information flow, and patient safety (Asaro & Boxerman, 2008). Consequently, the following sections will enumerate the benefits of computerized provider order entry system by illustrating how it has improved the clinical workflow and how physicians and nurses view its impact on clinical practice.
Example of Computerized Provider Order Entry
The clinical workflow concept has many undertones and defining the concept will be necessary so as to understand the full impact that computerized provider order entry system has had on the clinical workflow. Modeling a workflow entails the outlining of the processes applied in an information system that would enable it to work as well as manage the flow of work (Niazkhani, Pirnejad, Berg & Aarts, 2009). A workflow is controlled by a computer program that determines how work will be assigned, how it will be passed on, and how it will be tracked (Niazkhani, et al., 2009). Succinctly, its aids a distributed office environment to coordinate and monitor how work flows.
The value of the computerized provider order entry system cannot be disputed as its tools promote effectiveness and efficiency in clinical practice. This value is mostly ascribed to its ability to change an organization’s workflow (Koppel et al., 2005). However, there are some pundits that have posited that the implementation of the computerized provider order entry system has created negative interruptions in the clinical workflow (Lavelle, Ash & Gorman, 2003). Lavelle et al., (2003)...