Mission Impossible? Putting the Patient Back in Patient Care

The primary focus of this teaching case is the patient journey, as facilitated and influenced by an e-system or electronic health record (EHR) system. The goal of this case is to provide the learner with the knowledge and skills needed to effectively incorporate patient-centered e-health (PCEH) principles into existing and planned e-health systems such as EHRs. This case can be used to help students understand a hospital experience from the perspective of a patient and her family. It is loosely based on an experience one of the authors had with an actual patient. This case is intended for use with upper level undergraduate and graduate health informatics, information systems, and nursing students. Students assigned to this case should have a working knowledge of clinical terms and the general workings of a hospital. This teaching case is best suited to an advanced course in a health informatics curriculum. Possible applications of the case include, but are not limited to, describing the patient journey, modeling the process flow, diagramming the data flow, and applying the principles of patient-centered e-health.