Question

EHR functions are needed for the ambulatory care environment. How are the ambulatory care EHR functions similar to or different from the acute care EHR functions? In your opinion, is it easier to implement an acute care EHR system or an ambulatory care EHR system? Justify.

Answer 1

Acute care EHR function refers to inpatient and ambulatory care EHR function refers to outpatient. In acute care the patient remains under constant care and in ambulatory care the patient remains under medical facility like in hospital or school but it includes clinics and medical settings that typically includes non emergency issues but there is a similarity between these two as emergency or urgent care clinic falls under ambulatory care as well as if the patient is suffering from life threatening symptoms.

Ambulatory care EHR system is more easier to implement than acute care EHR system as ambulatory is a web based due to that it's more reliable and can be accessed anywhere and anytime. As Ambulatory care EHR system are nhi more sophisticated, they became the hub that tried to link each of the internal departments together. At first, the EHRs were simply ways of capturing medical records documentation – dictated H&Ps, Procedure and Op Notes, and Discharge Summaries. Linkage with the in-house lab, with pharmacy, with imaging, and with computerized order-taking were all added on with increasing EHR sophistication which is more reliable to access patient's data and saves time of each department and makes more reliable system.