Healthcare Informatics in Primary Care Pediatrics

The focus of this assignment is to increase your knowledge and understanding of how informatics, specifically the electronic medical record, improves the pediatric patient health outcomes. Caring for the pediatric patient has unique elements that are not applicable in the adult population. Examples are growth and development surveillance, vaccine records, transitional changes that affect “normal findings” by age group. For example, the normal respiratory rate of a newborn is significantly different from a 10-year-old. Additionally, pediatric healthcare providers are expected to educate parents with “anticipatory guidance” according to the age of the patient. For this assignment, you are expected to analyze the utilization of the EMR that you are using in your clinical practicum and evaluate how this particular EMR system is improving health outcomes. For example, does the EMR that you are using have mechanisms in place that track growth and development, which has led to early identification of abnormals?