analyze the same current health care problem or issue topic area you selected for the Week 4 assignment. If you have not already done so, you must use this module to select your health care-related issue or problem based on the presented topic areas. To explore the chosen topic, use the first four topics of the
Socratic Problem-Solving Approach Links to an external site.
for critical thinking that were introduced in Week 4.
Start by defining the health care problem or issue based on the selected health care topic.
Then provide details about the problems or issues that are part of the chosen topic, and identify causes for the problems or issues.
Identify at least three scholarly or academic peer-reviewed journal articles about the topic you are discussing by using articles found in the Week 4 assignment or searching the Capella library using the applicable undergraduate library research guide.
Write Your Paper
Use scholarly information to explain a health care problem or issue.
Assess the credibility of information sources.
Describe the reasons that make the problem or issue important to you.
Identify groups of people affected by the problem or issue.
Describe potential solutions.
Describe what would be necessary to implement the proposed solution.
RUNNING HEADING: Applying Library Research Skills
Applying Library Research Skills
Juan Carlos Delgado
Capella University
NHS4000: Developing a Health Care Perspective
Christy Bailey
May 4, 2023
2
Applying Library Research Skills
Within the world of health care, there can be and are a lot of new challenges that healthcare
professionals can see and face day to day . They are a lot of challenge problems in this world but
I just want to talk about one. That is limited access to healthcare. What does Limited Access
Healthcare entitled you may ask, Limited access to healthcare refers to a situation where
individuals and communities do not have adequate access to necessary medical care due to
various reasons such as financial, geographical, and social barriers. This lack of access can have
serious consequences for individuals and communities, including untreated illnesses, higher
morbidity and mortality rates, and increased healthcare costs in the long run.
I decided that it is important to finish my degree in healthcare administration. That way I
can find different avenues to help healthcare professionals decrease healthcare barriers with
people in the community today. We are trying to make healthcare professional more educated to
communicate different online access to help inform consumers about their medical needs and
those of others. When healthcare professional becomes more familiar with online access to
healthcare, the response this will have can open a whole new avenue for use of internet to access
medical information without any problems.
Identifying Academic Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
You see our university, Capella University, offers several resources for us to use while having
the pleasure to attend this wonderful university. One of the resources is the library. I use it for
all my important assignment and this assignment, of course, to research articles. I used the
Summon. It is a search engine that searches the university’s library database. While using the
Summon I was able to key in keywords. Some of those keywords would be online health
information seeking, health care access, and health information search. When I searched for
RUNNING HEADING: Applying Library Research Skills
peer-reviewed articles related to limited access to healthcare. Narrowing down my search, I
filtered my search to scholarly and peer- reviewed journals and articles published within the last
three years of publication.
Assessing Credibility and Relevance of Information Sources
To ensure I was assessing articles and journal of credibility, I selected only scholarly and
peer-reviewed that published within the last three years. I also made sure that I found authors
that studies or worked in the healthcare field. To ensure that I had relevant information on my
topic for my paper. In combing through each article, I found important information that is helpful
with the healthcare industry today. Finally, with the information I obtain from the reading I was
able to get enough information to develop my paper on limited access to healthcare.
Annotated Bibliography
Bhandari, N., Shi, Y., & Jung, K. (2014, June 19). Seeking health information online:
Does limited healthcare access matter? [Abstract]. Journal of the American Medical Informatics
Association, 21(6), 1113-1117. doi:10.1136/amiajnl-2013-002350
This article gives information on how consumers with barriers to healthcare access will
use the internet for seeking online health information. The authors of this journal presented
information from a survey that conducted in 2009 by the National Health Interview Board, that
people with barriers such as financial, transportation and scheduling conflicts are more likely to
use online search engines to seek general health information more that those without barriers.
The authors researched that seeking online health information will give people a chance to
communicate with physicians via chat rooms or emails. The authors conclude that the association
with healthcare access barriers and online health information seeking, gives several suggestions
RUNNING HEADING: Applying Library Research Skills
when medical needs are not met that’s when consumers have high demands for online health
information. So, being able to provide reliable health related information online will help
consumers obtain medical information, which is especially important for providing self-care
resources for those who are facing barriers to health care access.
Banerjee, A., & Singh, S. (2019). Internet and doctor–patient relationship: Crosssectional study of patients’ perceptions and practices [Abstract]. Indian Journal of Public Health,
63(3), 215-219. doi:10.4103/ijph.ijph_392_18
In this article, Internet, and Doctor-Patient Relationships, the authors did a study on
patient’s perceptions and practices. The authors explained that with the increased usage for
seeking medical information a study was performed to obtain patients seeking on the internet for
information pertaining to doctor-patient relationship. The authors used a cross-sectional study
with a total of 709 patients, that consist of 307 urban and 402 rural patients interviewed. Results
from the authors were that the use of the internet for medial information accessed by urban
patients totaling 79.48% and rural patients 28.11%. The authors concluded that a large
percentage of patients in urban areas use the internet for seeking medical information and
enhancing their doctor-patient relationship. Doctors will have to engage in enhancing their
communication skills for patients who are non-tech users. Whether the patient has accessed
medical information or if he or she understands it will form a change in clinical practice in years
to come.
Diviani, N., Fredriksen, E. H., Meppelink, C. S., Mullan, J., Rich, W., & Sudmann, T. T.
(2019). Where else would I look for it? A five-country qualitative study on purposes, strategies,
RUNNING HEADING: Applying Library Research Skills
and consequences of online health information seeking. Journal of Public Health Research, 8(1),
33-39. doi:10.4081/jphr.2019.1518
This article provides insight on how people are using online health information widely in
the western countries searching for information related to health care. The authors conducted a
study getting experiences from different demographic backgrounds who use online health
information (OHI). By doing this study will give the ratio’s and percentages of consumers that
use OHI and how they benefit from it. The authors conclude that the participants would often
check OHI (Online Health Information) before seeing their general physician but failed to
discuss any information that they may have obtained from online due to the negative response.
Health care professionals should consider using OHI seeking and engage in conversations with
patients to help them understand and appreciate their decision in health care access.
Learnings from the Research
This research helped me collect important data, opinions, and facts that shine light on
limited access to healthcare using peer-reviewed journals. This study helped to have a better
understanding why and how limited access to healthcare have a larger effect than I thought. It
brings me back full circle about a situation that I have seen firsthand. The effects of limited
access to healthcare on patients. I once had a patient who was experiencing severe chest pain but
was hesitant to seek medical attention due to financial concerns. When the patient finally came in
for an evaluation, they were diagnosed with a serious heart condition that required immediate
treatment. If the patient had sought care earlier, their condition could have been detected and
treated sooner, potentially avoiding the need for more invasive and expensive procedures.
RUNNING HEADING: Applying Library Research Skills
References
Bhandari, N., Shi, Y., & Jung, K. (2014). Seeking health information online: does limited
healthcare access matter? Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association: JAMIA,
21(6), 1113–1117. https://doi.org/10.1136/amiajnl-2013-002350
Singh, S., & Banerjee, A. (2019). Internet and doctor–patient relationship: Cross-sectional study
of patients’ perceptions and practices.Indian Journal of Public Health, 63(3), 215-219.
doi: http://dx.doi.org.library.capella.edu/10.4103/ijph.IJPH_392_18
Diviani, N., Fredriksen, E. H., Meppelink, C. S., Mullan, J., Rich, W., & Tobba, T. S. (2019).
Where else would I look for it? A five-country qualitative study on purposes, strategies, and
consequences of online health information seeking. Journal of Public Health Research, 8(1)
doi:http://dx.doi.org.library.capella.edu/10.4081/jphr.2019.1518
1
Analyze a Current Health Care Problem or Issue
Learner’s Name
Capella University
NHS4000: Developing a Health Care Perspective
Instructor Name
August, 2020
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2
Analyze a Current Health Care Problem or Issue
Patient safety, as discussed in the previous assessment, is an important element of quality
health care. This assessment will expand upon patient safety issues that occur when patients are
exposed to inadvertent harm or injury while receiving medical care. Health care organizations
should maintain and develop a safety culture to prevent patient safety issues. Patient safety
culture is defined as a system that promotes safety by shared organizational values of what is
important and beliefs about how things work. It also encompasses how these values and beliefs
interact with the work unit, organizational structures, and systems to produce behavioral norms
(Ulrich & Kear, 2014). As such, care should be taken to improve the infrastructure of health care
organizations. Improving patient safety should be discussed and addressed by every individual
associated with public health care.
Elements of the Problem/Issue
Research shows that while getting treated at health care organizations, patients might be
at risk of experiencing the harm or injuries associated with medical care. The most likely causes
of patient safety issues are preventable adverse events, which are adverse events attributable to
error. These errors can be classified as diagnostic errors, contextual errors, and communication
errors (Ulrich & Kear, 2014).
Diagnostic errors take place when health care professionals provide a wrong or delayed
diagnosis or no diagnosis at all (James, 2013). An example of a wrong diagnosis is a health care
professional diagnosing a patient with gastric troubles when the patient is actually experiencing a
heart attack. An example of a delayed diagnosis is a patient not being notified of an abnormal
chest X-ray, thereby delaying diagnosis of a serious medical condition. An example of a missed
diagnosis is a patient not being diagnosed with heart failure despite warning symptoms.
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3
Contextual errors occur when health care professionals fail to consider their patients’
personal or psychological limitations while planning appropriate care for them. An example is a
health care professional’s failure to recognize that basic follow-up discharge instructions may not
be understood by patients with cognitive disabilities (James, 2013). It is important for health care
professionals to be aware of their patients’ mental and physical abilities before they formulate a
plan of care.
Communication errors occur when there is miscommunication or lack of communication
between health care professionals and patients (James, 2013). They can cause severe harm to
patients. An example of this is a nurse failing to tell a surgeon that a patient experienced
abdominal pain and had a drop in red blood cell count after an operation, resulting in the death of
the patient due to severe internal bleeding. Limited health care knowledge; language barriers;
and auditory, visual, and speech disabilities could also lead to communication errors and cause
safety issues.
Analysis
As a medical transcriptionist, it is important for me to be aware of potential transcription
errors and privacy standards, which affect patient safety. Errors like these pose dangerous risks;
therefore, it is necessary to have an overall quality evaluation of the transcribed documents.
Also, I must ensure that serious difficulties in transcription resulting from poor-quality voice
files are reported immediately to the manager, who will then convey this to the health care
professionals involved in the process. This will help ensure that patient safety is not
compromised.
Context for Patient Safety Issues
With the advancement of medical technology, health care processes have become
extremely complex. Health care professionals are required to stay up to date with a lot of new
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4
knowledge and innovations obtained from research. This often overburdens them as there is a
need to apply the learning from research in their practice. Also, at the individual level, there is a
dearth of well-balanced continuing education programs, which has resulted in a lack of attention
to patient safety among health care professionals. At the system level, organizations fail to
deliver optimum health care as a result of being understaffed, an inability to provide appropriate
technology, and ineffective execution of patient care transfer (James, 2013). Overcrowding and
understaffing delays initiation of treatment and puts critically ill patients at significant risk. All
of these factors contribute to a rise in patient safety issues.
Populations Affected by Patient Safety Issues
Patients with a psychiatric history are also a vulnerable group of people who face patient
safety issues because their psychiatric records are often combined with their current symptoms.
Patients with a documented history of psychiatric illness may avoid seeking health care services as
they feel that their care will be based on their past record of illnesses and not their present needs.
Therefore, psychotherapists should implement measures such that their psychiatric data is concealed
from their medical records before it is shared with the third party, which helps protect patients’
confidentiality (Shenoy & Appel, 2017).
Considering Options
Patient safety in hospitals can be achieved by creating a culture of safety that involves
effective communication, correct managerial leadership styles, and the use of Electronic Health
Records (EHRs). Effective communication while passing patient-specific information from one
health care professional to another is essential in ensuring continuous and safe patient care.
Training the team could likely improve consistent successful communication and help prevent
errors. Standardizing critical content that needs to be communicated by the initial health care
professional ensures safe transfer of care (Farmer, 2016).
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5
It is essential for leadership teams to adopt organizational strategies that would improve
patient safety and transform their organizations into reliable systems for enhanced patient
satisfaction. They should set strategic safety goals, which could include adhering to standards of
health, assessing quality, using patient satisfaction reviews, and analyzing adverse event reports
to determine improvement in safety issues (Parand et al., 2014).
An EHR is another potential solution to prevent patient safety issues. It is a digital record
of a patient’s medical information that includes history, physical examination, investigations, and
treatment (Ozair et al., 2015). It helps manage multiple processes in the complex health care
system and prevents errors. EHRs utilize less storage space compared to paper documentation
and allow an infinite number of records to be stored. In addition to being cost-effective and
preventing a loss of records, EHRs help conduct research activities and provide quick data
transfer (Ozair et al., 2015).
Solution
In health care, because transmission of information takes place among different people
and electronic devices, there is a high likelihood of errors occurring. For example, transcription
errors (which occur due to poor audio quality or the lack of a quality evaluation process) can be
prevented by using recording equipment with good sound quality and by maintaining
proofreading and quality checks. However, integrating transcription processes with the HER
system helps prevent errors, helps access the required information faster, and allows health care
professionals to take accurate decisions about patients’ care.
Implementation
An EHR is an important mechanism for improving patient safety. Its advancement has
made it a viable option to prevent medical errors. However, the use of EHRs has certain ethical
implications such as security violation, data inaccuracies, lack of privacy and confidentiality, and
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6
challenges during system implementation. Security violation takes place when patients’
confidential health information is accessible to others without their permission. To avoid security
violation, data should not only be password protected but also encrypted to restrict access to
unauthorized individuals. Firewalls and antivirus software should be used to protect data (Ozair
et al., 2015).
Though EHRs improve patient safety by reducing medical errors, data inaccuracies are
increasing. Loss of data during data transfer leads to inaccuracies that affect decision-making
related to patient care. A problem of concern related to data inaccuracy is medical identity theft,
which leads to incorrect information being filed into a person’s medical record, which in turn
leads to insurance fraud and wrong billing (Ozair et al., 2015).
In health care, information that is shared during physician–patient interactions should be
kept confidential and should be made inaccessible to unauthorized individuals. Enabling rolebased access controls based on user credentials will restrict access to the EHR system to
authorized users. The user should also be made aware that he or she is responsible for any
information that he or she misuses (Ozair et al., 2015).
As EHR is a complex software, there is a high likelihood that software failure may result
in inaccurate recordings of patients’ data. Therefore, EHR system implementation may have
ethical implications due to the violation of data integrity (Ozair et al., 2015). EHRs can safeguard
patient confidentiality by using various methods that prevent security breaches. In addition to
this, creating reminders that ask for a confirmation before accessing confidential information can
help protect data. A nesting system could be developed, which would allow, for example, a
health care professional from a specific specialty clinic to access patient records by signing into
the specialty domain (Shenoy & Appel, 2017). These methods will enable the safe and efficient
use of EHRs and ensure patient safety.
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7
Conclusion
Patient safety involves preventing the risk of harm or injuries to patients by establishing a
safety culture and providing high-quality medical care. Health care organizations must
understand patient safety issues and find solutions for these issues by designing systems that
prevent errors from occurring. Potential solutions include effective communication, changes in
leadership style, and the use of EHRs. The ethical implications of these solutions should be
considered before implementing them in a health care setting. It is also important that health care
professionals undergo continuous education and effective training, provide appropriate medical
care, prevent errors, and follow safety practices to improve clinical outcomes.
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References
Farmer, B. M. (2016). Patient safety in the emergency department. Emergency Medicine, 48(9),
396–404. https://mdedge.com/emed-journal/article/113659/trauma/patient-safetyemergency-department
Flood, B. (2017). Safety of people with intellectual disabilities in hospital. What can the hospital
pharmacist do to improve quality of care? Pharmacy, 5(3).
https://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5622356/
James, J. T. (2013). A new, evidence-based estimate of patient harms associated with hospital
care. Journal of Patient Safety, 9(3), 122–128.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/PTS.0b013e3182948a69
Ozair, F. F., Jamshed, N., Sharma, A., & Aggarwal, P. (2015). Ethical issues in electronic health
records: A general overview. Perspectives in Clinical Research, 6(2), 73–76.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/2229-3485.153997
Parand, A., Dopson, S., Renz, A., & Vincent, C. (2014). The role of hospital managers in quality
and patient safety: A systematic review. BMJ Open, 4(9).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2014-005055
Shenoy, A., & Appel, J. M. (2017, April). Safeguarding confidentiality in electronic health
records. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 26(2), 337–341. https://searchproquest-com.library.capella.edu/docview/1882434628?pqorigsite=summon&https://library.capella.edu/login?url=accountid=27965
Ulrich, B., & Kear, T. (2014). Patient safety and patient safety culture: Foundations of excellent
health care delivery. Nephrology Nursing Journal, 41(5), 447–456, 505. https://searchproquest-
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com.library.capella.edu/docview/1617932572/fulltextPDF/1486CC30B3624B3CPQ/1?ac
countid=27965
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