Taking care of hormones and problems like diabetes or thyroid issues is not easy. Doctors have to look at a lot of tests and notes to make sure the treatment is safe. If they only use paper and check things by hand, they might miss something important that could harm the patient later.
An electronic medical record (EMR) helps with this. It has tools like reminders, online storage, and calendars that make the work faster and safer.
In this guide, you will learn how EMRs help doctors give better care by lowering mistakes, making changes to treatment faster, and keeping track of patients all the time.
How EMR Enhances Patient Care In Endocrinology And Hormone Therapy
Listed are the four biggest positive impacts on a patient’s health when using an EMR for endocrinology and hormone therapy:
1) Reduced Risk Of Serious Complications (Especially Blood Clotting)
Problem: Patients receiving hormone therapy or undergoing an endocrinology treatment are at risk of developing thicker blood that can cause clotting. The dangerous part is that there are no symptoms associated with this clotting.
To ensure the blood never gets to a critical level of thickness, the patient would need to have their blood levels tested and checked every three months. However, due to negligence or a busy schedule, patients may forget to have them on time.
Solution: An EMR solves this with the help of built-in schedulers and reminders. Here’s how:
- It automatically schedules a lab test based on the prescription, ensuring the patient gets their lab tests on time
- The system also automatically checks the lab results. If the results indicate a high risk of clotting, it sends a critical alert to the clinician, informing them of the patient’s condition
- It will also send a templated message to the patient, informing them to pause the treatment and visit the doctor immediately
Improved patient outcome: This automation ensures neither the patient nor the doctor is negligent about the gradual thickness of blood, which can cause a serious threat to the patient’s health over time.
2) Reduced Inappropriate Treatment Starts
Problem: Before starting an HRT, doctors need to check risk factors by analyzing a patient’s personal and family medical history. This process involves checking factors like previous injuries, the medication the patient has taken over the years, and any treatment they are going through currently.
Manually assessing these risk factors using checklists can lead to serious mistakes. If a doctor misses something important and starts the treatment, it can cause the patient serious harm. Plus, this process has no audit trails, which can be an issue in future audits.
Solution: Here’s how a dedicated EMR solves these problems with the help of initiation templates, guidelines-based recommendations, and computer alerts:
- The system automatically starts checks against a patient’s ‘problem list’ (a list containing all the active and previous medical treatments)
- It prompts the patient with all the required screening questions to ensure every detail regarding a patient’s health is captured
- If an issue is flagged, the EMR’s clinical decision support (CDS) feature alerts the clinician and suggests alternative treatments
- Since the process is digital, it records everything from a patient’s responses to a doctor’s suggestions, which can help in future audits
Improved patient outcome: By automating the cross-checking process of risk factors against a patient’s medical history, it ensures the treatment only starts when there are no risks involved. This automation reduces diagnostic oversights that often occur in manual reviews.
3) Improved Blood Sugar Monitoring And Control
Problems: Patients undergoing hormone or endocrinology therapy can experience changes in their blood sugar levels. They must accurately record their glucose levels and present them to the doctor.
The problem arises when patients forget the actual recordings, misreport data by mistake, or aren’t able to record them on a regular basis. It gives the doctor inaccurate data, and they may plan a treatment on flawed sugar level trends that may also cause permanent health issues.
Solution: Here’s how an EMR solves this problem with synced devices and patient portals:
- The system lets patients conveniently add their daily sugar levels on self-service portals. It saves patients from maintaining a paper register and provides doctors with real-time trends on sugar levels
- It can also sync with continuous glucose monitors (small wearable devices to monitor sugar levels) and import the data to the patient portal automatically
- The data is then automatically processed and presented in either visual charts or easy-to-read metrics
- Doctors can review these insights, compare results with the previous months, and analyze trends to suggest future treatment
Improved patient outcome: As clinicians don’t have to rely on a patient’s rough summary of glucose levels, they can make evidence-based dose adjustments to their insulin regimen. It helps maintain healthy sugar levels and avoid episodes of hyperglycemia.
4) Faster Symptom Relief
Problem: Hormone therapy and some endocrinology treatments can last anywhere from two to three years. During this period, patients have to wait weeks or months for their next visit to the clinic. This creates a disconnect between the patient and the doctor.
If, during this period, a patient experiences severe symptoms, such as lack of sleep or hot flashes, they will have to make a visit to their doctor in order to inform them. Most patients may fail to do that and thus worsen their symptoms.
Solution: EMR solves this with features like patient-reported outcomes and automated rules. Here’s how:
- The system sends symptom-related questionnaires to patients on a weekly basis. Responses are stored and scored next to the patient’s lab results or medication. If the scores stay abnormal for, let’s say, two weeks, the software triggers an alert for both the doctor and the patient
- Automated rules categorize the patient as someone who needs to see the doctor for an urgent checkup or to have their medication changed
Improved patient outcome: Patients can keep their clinicians regularly updated about their symptoms. It ensures their medication is adjusted as the treatment progresses, and that they don’t have to endure unnecessary discomfort or, in some cases, serious damage to their health.
Conclusion
We have discussed some of the most impactful ways EMRs can improve patient outcomes. They can certainly do much more, especially if clinics and healthcare institutions select and implement solutions carefully. For patients, these solutions provide a reliable process that ensures faster, more personalized treatments.
If you want a more in-depth understanding of how EMR can help improve outcomes for your patients, you can always talk to one of our consultants.
