St.

Paul University Dumaguete

(St. Paul University System)
Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental Philippines
COLLEGE OF NURSING DEPARTMENT
(BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN NURSING II)
SECOND SEMESTER A.Y. 2022-2023

ACTIVITY RESEARCH AND ESSAY ON OPENEMR AND

ITS INTEGRATION TO NURSING INFORMATICS

Submitted to:

Dr. Clifford M. Kilat RN, MAN

Submitted by:

Nel Danzel J. Corectico

ST. PAUL UNIVERSITY DUMAGUETE

APRIL 11, 2023

1
 St. Paul University Dumaguete
(St. Paul University System)
Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental Philippines
COLLEGE OF NURSING DEPARTMENT
(BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN NURSING II)
SECOND SEMESTER A.Y. 2022-2023

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cover Page ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1

Table of Contents ------------------------------------------------------------------2

Essay--------------------------------------------------------------------------------3-5

Introduction----------------------------------------------------------------3

Body------------------------------------------------------------------------3-5

Conclusion-------------------------------------------------------------------5

References--------------------------------------------------------------------------6-7

2
 St. Paul University Dumaguete
(St. Paul University System)
Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental Philippines
COLLEGE OF NURSING DEPARTMENT
(BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN NURSING II)
SECOND SEMESTER A.Y. 2022-2023

Technology has come a long way in its application within the healthcare system. With

that, technology has significantly changed the way healthcare organizations operate, however,

the role it plays in healthcare systems remains unclear (Morilla et al., 2017). Technologies such

as telemedicine which according to Lin (1999) refers to the utilization of telecommunication

technology for medical diagnosis, treatment, and patient care (p.28), and other technologies

that are utilized within the healthcare system helps make life easier for both the professionals

and the patients. Now, let us talk about Electronic Medical Records or EMR which is under the

technologies utilized by the healthcare system. According to Tsipi et al. (2017) this technology

IS utilized by physicians to improve the quality of care, in which I totally agree, this is based

on my experience using the OpenEMR, which is a software that helps you make a patient’s

medical records using a computer. So, I would like to share my experience in which I can

integrate it to the subject I am taking which is Nursing Informatics. What is nursing

informatics? It is defined as the interoperability of the three sciences involved in nursing

informatics which are computer, information, and nursing science, and by interoperability it is

the ability of authorized users to share patient information among health information systems

(Thede&Sewel, 2009).

The use of OpenEMR at first, I thought would be hard and complicated, given the fact

that I have not yet seen any tutorial. So, when I checked the tutorial, it made me realize that it

was user friendly, for me that is. Navigating through the demo system made was easier than

what I have expected. This application software is beneficial especially for those who wants to

learn about EMR’s, since we all know how important EMR’s are. EMR’s help reduce medical

errors, caregivers would never have to worry about finding a chart, makes clinical notes more

3
 St. Paul University Dumaguete
(St. Paul University System)
Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental Philippines
COLLEGE OF NURSING DEPARTMENT
(BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN NURSING II)
SECOND SEMESTER A.Y. 2022-2023

legible (Williams&Boren, 2008). With the right fundings for this application, I believe this can

have a big impact especially on how user friendly it is. The term user friendliness as stated by

Meyer&Harper (1984) refers to the level of tolerance built into a system that enables the user

to cope with complexity and permits minor error and variable performance on the part of the

user (p.1). Basically, it is just means how easy it would be for a user to cope up with the use of

the system. Aside from that it is an open-source software, what this means is that a user may

obtain a copy of the software and at no cost then legally the study the software’s source code,

modify it and distribute it to others which is also for free (Von Hippel, 2001). Which also has

some disadvantages, mainly on the security aspect of the application. It is somewhat a double-

edged sword, on one hand, security holes can be discovered and fixed more quickly because of

all the contributors to the software. Anyone can fix or upgrade the code, without relying on a

proprietary vendor. On the other hand, it also means that the code is open to malicious users

that can find a way to exploit potential vulnerabilities and keep this knowledge to themselves

(Rodriguez&Gurcay, 2020). It would be easy for patient information to be hacked in an open-

source system, which we do not want because we all know patient information are keep

confidential. Nevertheless, OpenEMR is a great application, even though I was just using a

demo, it really felt like I was an administrator managing a patient’s health information,

everything is there from the patient’s demographic profile, health insurance, billing

information, your ledgers, reports, but the best thing there would be the encounter in which you

are able to input the patient’s medical issues, vital signs, SOAP or subjective, objective,

assessment, and planning, review of systems, all of those possible health assessments you can

think of are there, which is really amazing.

4
 St. Paul University Dumaguete
(St. Paul University System)
Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental Philippines
COLLEGE OF NURSING DEPARTMENT
(BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN NURSING II)
SECOND SEMESTER A.Y. 2022-2023

Now, let us go to nursing informatics, as a future nurse why do I need to learn and

understand nursing informatics? According to McGonigle et al. (2014) nursing informatics is

an exciting nursing specialty, it affects learning environments, meaningful use,

interprofessional collaboration, patient care settings, strategic planning, patient satisfaction,

and ultimately, patient outcomes (p.324). This goes to show that nursing doesn’t just limit to

doing things as a nurse on your own, technology utilization must also be done especially in our

rapid innovating society at the moment, in which innovations are rapidly increasing, which

means the nurse must also cope, and understanding nursing informatics helps a nurse learn and

understand the use of technology within the nursing field, and as future nurse who has been

exposed to technology ever since I was a child, then the use of technology in the healthcare

system would give me an advantage.

All in all, my experience on using the OpenEMR and learning nursing informatics was

great, with just the right funding and support from possible users, it can really help make things

easier. Though for starters, I would really recommend to school institutions in which the

application can be used as a simulation in learning how EMR’s work in the hospital. I know it

is a big change, especially for those who are not that inclined when it comes to computers but

we always have this thing called lifelong learning in nursing, which contributes to the

development of knowledge and skill in nursing, and a focus on continuous learning is necessary

to remain current on trends, practices and the newest treatments in the field of nursing (Eason,

2010). My point in this essay is that the use of nursing informatics is really important as a nurse

in a field where technology has become incorporated, and which further innovations are

possible in the future.

5
 St. Paul University Dumaguete
(St. Paul University System)
Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental Philippines
COLLEGE OF NURSING DEPARTMENT
(BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN NURSING II)
SECOND SEMESTER A.Y. 2022-2023

References:

• Eason, T. (2010). Lifelong learning: Fostering a culture of curiosity. Creative Nursing,

16(4). https://doi.org/10.1891/1078-4535.16.4.155

• Lin, J. C. (1999). Applying telecommuncation technology to healthcare deliver. IEEE

in Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, 18(4), pp28-31.

https://doi.org/10.1109/51.775486

• McGonigle, D., Hunter, K., Sipes, C., & Hebda, T. (2014). Why nurses need to

understand nursing informatics. Aorn Journal, 100(3), 324.

• Meyer, K., & Harper, M. (1984). User Friendliness. MIS Quarterly, 8(1), 1–3.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/249239

• Morilla, R., M.D, Sans, M., Casa, A., & Gimenez, N. (2017). Implementing tehnology

in healthcare: Insights from physicians. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak, 17(92).

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12911-017-0489-2

• Rodriguez, C., & Gürcay, O. (2020). Open-Source Software in Business and its

Advantages & Disadvantages. https://free-and-open-technologies.github.io

• Thede, L.Q., & Sewell, J.P. (2009). Informatics and nursing: Competencies and

applications (3rd ed., pp. 266-306). New York: Wolters Kluwer

• Tsipi, H., Ofir, B. A., & Itamar, S. (2017). A review of PHR, EMR and EHR

integration: A more personalized healthcare and public health policy, Health Policy and

Technology, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hlpt.2016.08.002.

6
 St. Paul University Dumaguete
(St. Paul University System)
Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental Philippines
COLLEGE OF NURSING DEPARTMENT
(BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN NURSING II)
SECOND SEMESTER A.Y. 2022-2023

• Von Hippel, E. (2001). Learning from open-source software. MIT Sloan management

review, 42(4), 84.

• Williams, F., & Boren, S. A. (2008). The role of the electronic medical record (EMR)

in care delivery development in developing countries: a systematic review. Informatics

in primary care, 16(2).