3 Ways EHRs Can Help Patients With Mental Disorders

Every year, 20% of U.S. adults experience mental illness, while 5% of U.S. adults experience serious mental illness. While these patients are receiving care for their conditions, they are also at risk for adverse events and complications related to medication errors and poor medication management.

Healthcare entities are struggling to keep up with the rising demand for mental care services, which has increased significantly over the years. As a result of this increase in patient volume, these entities are working under tremendous pressure to provide timely and effective care for all patients – including those with mental illnesses.

In such a situation, EHRs ¹can help healthcare entities by improving their ability to provide effective care, thus helping them make informed decisions about medications. Mental health EHR services can help physicians make better-informed decisions about which medications should be given to patients with mental disorders. If you’re interested in learning more about how EHRs can help individuals with mental disorders, then read on.

Reduce Stigma

EHRs can reduce stigma by helping individuals with mental disorders feel more comfortable sharing their information with doctors and other healthcare providers.

When an individual is diagnosed with a mental disorder, they may be reluctant to share their condition with others because of the social stigma that surrounds such disorders. For example, many people are afraid of being judged for having depression, anxiety, or another condition. This fear can prevent individuals from seeking help or even taking medication that could improve their quality of life. When those individuals are able to share their information with doctors and other healthcare providers in a safe way, however, they may feel more comfortable doing so. They will be able to feel confident that any information shared will be kept confidential and secure.

This means that if patients are willing to share their data in an EHR system, they can actually help reduce some of the social stigma associated with mental disorders. In addition to being able to better manage their conditions themselves through this increased transparency, they may also feel more inclined towards seeking professional treatment if needed – which could lead to better overall outcomes in terms of both physical health and mental health.

Considering this inclination of patients towards EHRs, it’s no secret that EHRs are becoming more common in medical facilities across America, with 86% of non-federal general acute care hospitals having adopted a 2015 Edition certified electronic health record, according to statistics from 2019 and 2021. 

Plus, it’s becoming clear that they’re helping reduce stigma among individuals who have mental disorders by allowing them to interact anonymously with doctors and staff members who specialize in treating these conditions.

EHR Allows for Better Diagnosis

Mental disorders are notoriously difficult to diagnose, and a variety of factors can make it challenging for doctors and patients alike. For example, some symptoms of mental illness may be misinterpreted as signs of another problem or illness. In addition, the patient may not always be willing to disclose their symptoms, which can make diagnosis even more difficult.

However, EHRs can help with this process. EHRs are able to store information about previous visits and diagnoses, which allows doctors to see patterns in patient behavior that could point toward mental illness. For example, if a patient has visited several times complaining about headaches and fatigue ²but has never mentioned being depressed or anxious before this visit, the doctor may want to ask more questions about those issues and consider them as possible causes for those symptoms instead of dismissing them entirely based on previous complaints about headaches and fatigue alone.

Thus, there are numerous ways EHRs can help patients dealing with mental disorders. As per the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, an EHR system can enhance patient care by making health information available, minimizing duplication of testing, decreasing treatment delays, and empowering patients with more knowledge to make wiser decisions.

Early Intervention

Mental health ³professionals can use EHRs to help individuals with mental disorders ⁴who are in need of early intervention.

EHRs can be used to monitor the progress of a patient’s treatment and provide them with timely alerts if there are any changes in their condition. This helps therapists and psychiatrists make better decisions about their patient’s treatment plans and adjust them as needed.

Another benefit of using EHRs for early intervention is that all relevant information about the patient is available at the click of a button. This makes it easy for therapists and psychiatrists ⁵to share their findings with other doctors or therapists without having to hand over hard copies of their notes or go through a long process of transcribing them onto new forms.

Summing Up

All in all, it is safe to say that EHRs can help individuals with mental disorders by providing them with a way to keep track of their appointments, medications, dosages⁶, treatment plans, and results. This will help them to stay better organized and on top of things while also making sure they stay healthy.

1. Si, Yuqi, et al. “Deep representation learning of patient data from Electronic Health Records (EHR): A systematic review.” Journal of biomedical informatics 115 (2021): 103671. ↩︎
2. Ceban, Felicia, et al. “Fatigue and cognitive impairment in Post-COVID-19 Syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis.” Brain, behavior, and immunity 101 (2022): 93-135. ↩︎
3. Moreno, Carmen, et al. “How mental health care should change as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic.” The lancet psychiatry 7.9 (2020): 813-824. ↩︎
4. Solmi, Marco, et al. “Age at onset of mental disorders worldwide: large-scale meta-analysis of 192 epidemiological studies.” Molecular psychiatry 27.1 (2022): 281-295. ↩︎
5. Rea, Kieran, Timothy G. Dinan, and John F. Cryan. “Gut microbiota: a perspective for psychiatrists.” Neuropsychobiology 79.1 (2020): 50-62. ↩︎
6. Porter, Stuart C. “Coating of pharmaceutical dosage forms.” Remington. Academic Press, 2021. 551-564. ↩︎

Last Updated on February 5, 2024 by Suchi