TY - JOUR
T1 - Electronic medical records, nurse staffing, and nurse-sensitive patient outcomes
T2 - Evidence from the national database of nursing quality indicators
AU - Furukawa, Michael F.
AU - Santanam, Raghu
AU - Shao, Benjamin
PY - 2011/6
Y1 - 2011/6
N2 - Electronic medical records (EMR) have the potential to improve nursing care in the hospital setting. This study estimated the association of EMR implementation with nurse staffing levels, skill mix, contract/agency percent, and nurse-sensitive patient outcomes in U.S. hospitals. Data on nurse staffing and patient outcomes came from the 2004-2008 National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators. Data on EMR implementation came from the 2004-2008 HIMSS Analytics Database. The authors conducted a longitudinal analysis of an unbalanced panel of 3,048 medical/surgical units in 509 short-term, general acute care hospitals. EMR implementation was associated with lower total nurse hours per patient day, higher Registered Nurse percent and contract/agency percent, and higher adverse patient events in the short term. EMR may create a skill bias toward higher-skilled nurses. As more advanced EMR systems diffuse into practice, managers and policy makers should consider potential negative associations of EMR implementation with patient safety.
AB - Electronic medical records (EMR) have the potential to improve nursing care in the hospital setting. This study estimated the association of EMR implementation with nurse staffing levels, skill mix, contract/agency percent, and nurse-sensitive patient outcomes in U.S. hospitals. Data on nurse staffing and patient outcomes came from the 2004-2008 National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators. Data on EMR implementation came from the 2004-2008 HIMSS Analytics Database. The authors conducted a longitudinal analysis of an unbalanced panel of 3,048 medical/surgical units in 509 short-term, general acute care hospitals. EMR implementation was associated with lower total nurse hours per patient day, higher Registered Nurse percent and contract/agency percent, and higher adverse patient events in the short term. EMR may create a skill bias toward higher-skilled nurses. As more advanced EMR systems diffuse into practice, managers and policy makers should consider potential negative associations of EMR implementation with patient safety.
KW - efficiency
KW - electronic medical records
KW - health information technology
KW - nurse staffing
KW - patient outcomes
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79955839722&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1177/1077558710384877
DO - 10.1177/1077558710384877
M3 - Article
C2 - 21075750
AN - SCOPUS:79955839722
SN - 1077-5587
VL - 68
SP - 311
EP - 331
JO - Medical Care Research and Review
JF - Medical Care Research and Review
IS - 3
ER -