Research Paper on:
The Implementation of Electronic Patient Records and Electronic Health Records ; A Dissertation Proposal

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
on that question. If we are considering healthcare and the place of electronic patient records (EPR) and electronic health records (EHR) we may want to ask; What short term and  long term values may be realised through the implementation of an electronic patients record system, how can these benefits be realised though efficient implementation and what lessons can be learnt  from real world situations that will lead to an understanding so better implementation models can be developed. The National Health Service has implemented a plan to ensure all patient  records are held electronically, this is seen as part of a larger plan and key to the need to increase service efficiency, cut long term costs, speed up service and  increase resource efficiency. When we consider that the UK only spends 7% of GDP on healthcare, compared to the EU average of 8.2% and 13.7% in the US (Jones, 2002),  it becomes apparent why there is a need to understand the effect that implementing this new system will have on a health authority, looking for both the advantages and disadvantages,  many of which may be indirect. The limited funds, which are criticised as being insufficient to meet the healthcare requirements, need to be used as effectively as possible. In undertaking  this study, the aim will be to gather information regarding past IT projects in the NHS and then observe the implementation of EPR in three local health authority facilities using  both quantitative and qualitative measures to investigate the multidimensional complexities and challenges of electronic patient and health record systems in order to improve future implementations. The first stage  of the research will usually last in the region of six months. This will be a comprehensive literature review. Here the former IT projects that have been used in the