ANA Position Statement - Approved 12/11/09
Statement of ANA Position: The ANA believes that the public has
a right to expect that health data and healthcare information will be
centered on patient safety and improved outcomes throughout all segments
of the healthcare system and the data and information will be
accurately and efficiently collected, recorded, protected, stored,
utilized, analyzed, and reported. Principles of privacy,
confidentiality, and security cannot be compromised as the industry
creates and implements interoperable and integrated healthcare
information technology systems and solutions to convert from paper-based
media for documentation and healthcare records to the newer format of
electronic health records (EHRs), including individual personal health
record (PHR) products.
ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORD 2 The ANA strongly supports efforts to further
refine the concept and requirements of the patient-centric EHR,
including the creation of standards-based electronic health records and
supporting infrastructures that promote efficient and effective
interprofessional and patient communications and decision-making
wherever care is provided. Similar attention must address the secondary
uses of data and information to generate knowledge that leads to
improved and effective decision tools.
All stakeholders, including nurses and patients, must be integral
participants in the design, development, implementation, and evaluation
phases of the electronic health record. This effort requires the
attention and action of nurses, the professional and specialty nursing
organizations, and the nursing profession to ensure the EHRs are
designed to facilitate and support critical thinking and decision
making, such as in the nursing process, and the associated documentation
activities. It is ANA’s position that the registered nurse must also be
involved in the product selection, design, development, implementation,
evaluation and improvement of information systems and electronic
patient care devices used in patient care settings.
Background Info (Members Only)