A Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA) study reveals acute care hospital EHR optimization may not be meeting rigid healthcare standards when it comes to older patients. Current optimization for this demographic is not reaching the standards of the “4Ms” Framework, implemented back in 2017 as a way to boost healthcare for seniors. The 4Ms are a series of healthcare preferences and goals: What Matters, Medication, Mentation, and Mobility.
EHRs could be modified, for instance, to integrate features that tackle the 4Ms by incorporating reminders and fields in the EHR for clinicians to implement standardized treatment, target documentation, or revisit medicines known to affect mobility and mentation (the prevention, identification, and management of mental illnesses like delirium and depression). According to the JAMIA study, however, there may be a lack of awareness among clinicians on ways to integrate certain needs for older adults.
The JAMIA findings may suggest that hospitals do not rely on EHR optimization to improve older adult care, while the bulk of the inpatient population is actually older adults. Applying policy and realistic initiatives that concentrate on improving care for this age group may help tackle this problem.
To read more, please visit https://ehrintelligence.com/news/older-population-often-overlooked-during-ehr-optimization.
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