Web based nursing home information system: needs, benefits, and success in providing efficient care at long term care facilities

Abstract

Most of the nursing homes in the United States do not have clinical information systems at their facility due to which elderly people who reside in the facilities are not reaping the benefits that these systems are thought to have. Some Nursing homes that do have clinical information systems deployed are not primarily designed to support nursing care coordination. The purpose of this study is to explore the emerging need for Nursing Home Information Systems (NHIS) in long term care facilities and the promise they hold for increased efficiency, better accuracy, reduced cost, and improved outcomes. This study reports a pilot research done in development of a home-grown, web based, nursing home electronic health record (EHR) system for Aging in Place - TigerPlace; an independent housing with services facility, licensed assisted living facility, located in Columbia, Missouri. With Internet becoming an important topic in health care industry due to its capability for increased accessibility to information, a web based information system proves more beneficial to organizations. The emergence of World Wide Web technology constitutes one significant milestone on the road to efficient developments and deployment of clinically useful systems (Kittredge et al., 1996). Considering these benefits of web technology, this study first analyzes differences between traditional stand alone clinical systems and web based clinical systems. Further study concentrates on the need for TigerPlace facility to develop and implement a web based clinical information system, the process adopted towards developing the required system, its implementation and use at the facility, success of the system, and future enhancement possibilities for the system.