The data was collected using specially designed questionnaires with high standards of information confidentiality being maintained. Participants for the feasibility study ranged from nurses, physicians and patients. Their feedback on the impact of medical records in administration of healthcare was useful in assessing relevance electronic methods in record keeping towards eradication of medication errors. Medication errors are investigated at the hospital with regard to the degree to which the risk of improper management of patients’ data leads to poor medical interventions.
The safe keeping of medical records entails the task of compiling, storing, typing and retrieving patients’ data in health institutions (Cherry& Jacob, 2005). Data is documented from different sources at the hospital for the purpose of facilitating ongoing medication to various patients. Patients’ data is not only important in supporting sustainable medication; it also facilitates proper hospital management, clinical research, teaching, reimbursement and meeting legal requirements. Documentation of patients’ data and its retrieval should be efficient in order to ensure professional, quality and timely healthcare is provided to patients. Manual keeping of records from diverse sources at Riyadh Military Hospital is both cumbersome and inefficient.
The handwritten record is the traditional method of medical documentation at Riyadh Military Hospital in tandem with practice in Saudi Arabia (Clark, 2008). The Arab Medical Board also demands that efficient medical records are provided as proof for accreditation of a hospital. Findings from study respondents revealed that faulty features of data entry and management existed at Riyadh Military Hospital. In essence, the system applied in recording medical information at the hospital was outdated and below international standards befitting its status. Access to patients’ data was particularly difficult which also complicated personalized therapeutic interventions.
Efficiency of the medical records department is ascertained through its accessibility, accuracy, confidentiality and accountability. Other important functions measured in evaluating the efficiency of record keeping include the elements of precision, legibility and timeliness of medical data documentation and retrieval. Efficiency also requires that staff working in medical records departments is professionally qualified. Efficient medical record is an important tool for carrying out medical research since it provides empirical data for analysis. Medical practitioners also find properly recorded data useful in provision of healthcare to their patients.
The hospital relies on an efficient database at medical records for planning and organizational management. This informs the need for electronic record keeping since poorly recorded data could distort patients’ historical archives necessary in therapy. Medication errors are also a consequence of erroneous clinical database resulting in loss of resources and lives (Corlett& Wilson, 2005). Due to distorted medical record database, important clinical time is wasted courtesy of uncalled for referrals and improper medical investigations.
Confidentiality of patients’ information was also at stake at the reputable hospital. Confidentiality is highly regarded in the medical profession especially when patients’ data is concerned (Fagin, 2008). According to the feasibility study, the mean scores of data obtained from respondents revealed that leakage of data at Riyadh Military Hospital was rampant. It was quite easy for anyone to access private medical information from the records department as well as other departments at the hospital. Patients are privileged to their medical data whether they are alive or dead. As such, privileged medical information is only accessible to third party individuals through the verbal or written consent from the patient.
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The physical security of medical record facilities is of utmost importance in therapeutic interventions. Physicians at Riyadh Military hospital raised complaints with regard to persistent loss of files. The physical space was too small for storage of medical records (Furlong& Milstead, 2006). Approximately twenty thousand patients’ files were congested in a small room. The likelihood of files missing or getting lost was rated as high. Medication errors were therefore likely to increase taking into account the high rate of patient admissions and medical operations at the hospital.
Consequently, health workers at the hospital’s medical r
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