Case+Scenario

=Patient History =

Mr. F is an outpatient at a Mental Health institution. He is having an episode and would like to be admitted to the hospital for further care. The nurse provides Mr. F with a room that he can stay in until the doctor arrives. The room that Mr. F has been placed in is small, the blind on the window are closed and the door is shut. Mr. F starts to panic and is having an anxiety attack. When the nurses ask him what had happened he explains that he is claustrophobic. If the nurse had gone into his chart and read his history she would have known to leave the door open and open the blinds, preventing the episode. = = = = =Documentations and Alerts =

Mrs. D had bypass surgery a few days ago; she was discharged with proper teaching and was told to go the walk-in/Doctor's office/ER closest to her if she had concerns or an emergency. Mrs. D started to feel pain in her chest and was taken to the ER. Due to the lack of information in regards to the surgery Health care providers called in the hospital where the surgery had taken place and requested the information be sent to the hospital. There was an 8 hr wait time before the records had reached the hospital.

This case indicates compromised patient safety, the ER had a lack of information that could have been prevented if the patient had all the significant information documented in an EHR the was accessible to multiple healthcare facilities. Also, the EHR could have provided the healthcare providers in the ER with alerts pertaining to Mrs. D's medications and areas of concern in regards to the surgery.

An Internet-Based Communication Network for Information Transfer During Patient Transitions from Skilled Nursing Facility to the Emergency Department This article provides more information on a similar scenario to the one mentioned above.