Linking the Electronic Health Record and Competency Systems to Improve Patient Outcomes

The technology supporting today's electronic health records has evolved significantly since their first generation. However, the underlying systems integration model has changed very little over the same time period. Nursing has access to more patient data than ever before. Sadly, opportunities to utilize the data to inform the care process are still being overlooked.

The Synergy Model states the by matching patience characteristics with nursing characteristics patient outcomes are optimized.  The electronic health record provides a near complete view of the patient characteristics. However, systems for capturing nursing characteristics are lacking.

A systems integration model will be presented, informed by the Synergy Model, that will support the linking of patient and nursing characteristics through linkages between the electronic health record, a knowledge base, and a competency management system.

The learner will be able to explicate the benefits of linking patient data with provider data to improve patient outcomes.

The learner will understand why a knowledge base should be the conduit between the Electronic Health Record and the Competency Management System.