By Jennifer Sharpe
Health information management, which includes the management of medical records, is a field that is constantly evolving with advances in technology.
“Health information is an exciting career,” said Julia Kendrick, regional health information management director for SSM Health Care Oklahoma. “This industry has come a long way from the days of us being known as the ‘medical record librarians’ to where we are today.”
Accuracy of medical records has always been a concern with health information management, but the rise of electronic medical records has brought about different quality issues.
“The electronic medical record does give us challenges providing a concise and clear picture of the patient’s stay,” Kendrick said. “While the conveniences that our EMRs provide, through templates, the ability to cut and paste, drop-down menus and flow sheets, are wonderful tools to assist us in documentation, there is potential for those conveniences to impact our quality. It’s very easy to be going through a drop-down menu and accidentally click on the wrong one.”