A community hospital is considering implementing an electronic health record (EHR). Which is considered an impediment to the development and implementation of this electronic communication? Select all that apply.

Question

A) Cost
B) Confidentiality
C) Information system vendors
D) Lack of a common vocabulary
E) Development of an electronic infrastructure

Answer 1

A) Cost
B) Confidentiality
D) Lack of a common vocabulary
E) Development of an electronic infrastructure

Explanation: A) One impediment to an EHRS is cost. Financial considerations include vendor fees, capital availability, and lack of or limited incentive eligibility. Initial and ongoing costs for deploying and maintaining IT systems were cited as the greatest barrier to IT.
B) Security and confidentiality concerns are critical considerations in EHR development and use. Preservation of the client's privacy is one of the most basic and important duties of the healthcare provider. Because one of the key attributes of an EHR is the ease of data sharing, the client's privacy rights must be guarded by all who have access to the record.
C) Information system vendors are not identified as being an impediment to the implementation of an EHR.
D) Standardization of clinical terms used in patient records facilitates interoperability as it ensures a common understanding of terms. Standardized languages make it possible to generalize research findings across settings, countries, and cultures; compare patient outcomes; facilitate communication with other disciplines and delivery systems; and showcase nursing's contributions to healthcare. Despite these clear advantages, adoption of standard nomenclature has been slow.
E) Healthcare facilities, payers, physicians, and nurses all need the ability to access and update the client's longitudinal record. This ability requires linkage of the various information systems that support these stakeholders via a network infrastructure. Agreement must be reached regarding the nature and format of client data to be stored, as well as the mechanisms for data exchange, storage, and retrieval. This means that all participants use common data communication standards. The lack of standards has been a key barrier to establishing this type of electronic connectivity.