Because the use of electronic health records continue to be a focus of health care reform efforts, it is vital that nurses understand how electronic records impact their own nursing practices. Reflect on your reading and the media program from this week. Think about how the use of electronic records changes health care practice, patient safety, and quality of patient care. Then, consider the following:

• If your work setting has an electronic health record system used by nurses, how have nursing practices changed since those systems were implemented?
• If your work setting does not currently have an electronic health record system, imagine two nursing practice changes that might take place if one were implemented and evaluate those changes as positive or negative, explaining why you think this way.

With these thoughts in mind, respond to the following:

• What, if any, problems have you or nurse colleagues encountered in using an electronic health record system?
• Overall, do you and your colleagues think the changes brought on by the use of electronic records are mostly beneficial or detrimental? Include at least one example.