SKEPTICAL More than half (52%) of the 551 surgical facility leaders we surveyed are not convinced that electronic medical records improve patient care.

Do electronic medical records make you feel more like a secretary than a surgical nurse? You're not alone in your frustration. "We often hear people complain that it's like they're doing more typing than nursing," says Erin Sparnon, engineering manager in the health devices group at ECRI Institute, an independent nonprofit that researches the best approaches to improving patient care. The purpose of EMRs is to enable healthcare workers to provide more effective, efficient, coordinated care, not make them better touch-typists. Here are 5 ways digital record-keeping can help you deliver better patient care.

1. Ready access to the patient's medical record. EMRs can update instantly and are easy to read. "Gone are the days of hunting down the record that could still be in the transferring department or being held awaiting signatures," says Jan Kleinhesselink, RN, BSHM, chief quality officer at Lincoln (Neb.) Surgical Hospital. Instead, by simply logging into the EMR, staff can view real-time and historic data that can result in timely documentation and support of care, she says. Plus, you eliminate legibility mistakes. Relying on reading someone's handwritten notes is asking for trouble, says healthcare attorney Thomas L. O'Carroll of Hinshaw & Culbertson in Chicago. "Increased legibility of physician's orders can lead to more accuracy," he says.

2. Improved patient safety. If you store paper charts off-site, you won't know that a certain patient has a difficult airway history, says anesthesiologist Philip J. Arbit, MD, medical director and chief of anesthesia services at Novi (Mich.) Surgery Center. "EMRs make patient histories and anesthesia records instantly available to you," says Dr. Arbit. EMRs can cut down on preventable adverse events, even death. For example, they can prompt you to order deep-vein thrombosis prevention or to document the reasons why it wasn't ordered.

3. Bedside medical device connectivity. Vital signs monitors are among the first devices that surgical facilities are connecting to EMRs. The ability to transmit patient data straight to the EMR saves time and improves efficiency (no more paper and pencil!).

But don't stop there. You can connect many different types of devices to the patient record. For example, you can connect infusion pump servers to EMRs and to bedside bar-coding systems. "Once you connect those 3 pieces together, you can make sure the programming on the pump matches the medication order for that patient," says Ms. Sparnon. As the pump is running, you'll automatically send documentation of an infusion to that patient's flow sheet so the entire care team is aware of what that patient's receiving, she adds. "Having documentation sitting there waiting for a nurse to validate it can really save time," says Ms. Sparnon. "Connectivity and automated documentation can improve the efficiency of your documentation by reducing the potential for errors associated with manual transcribing," says Ramya Krishnan, a senior project engineer at ECRI.

4. Continuity of care. Having information available across multiple settings is a patient satisfier, especially in health systems. "The patient does not have to give the same information multiple times and staff has access to pertinent financial and clinical information, says Ms. Kleinhesselink. "This streamlines patient care and billing of services." Ms. Krishnan points to the cost savings when hospitals, outpatient centers and physicians' offices can all access a patient's digital health record at every point of care. "It's much easier to find information about your patient," she says, "and to reduce unnecessary duplications."

5. Improved security of records. Access to records can be restricted based on a provider's role at the organization, says Ms. Kleinhesselink. Audit logs can give a clear picture of unauthorized access to patient information, she adds. Electronic health records also have the potential to give patients access to key health information in a confidential and protected environment, says Ms. Kleinhesselink.