Medical Records and Electronic Records Today's healthcare is evolving and more and more hospitals are starting to go paperless by using computers for medical records and medical records. Computers are widely accepted, in personal and professional environments. This is an essential condition for having computer skills. Many technological advances over the past decade require nurses to not only have knowledge of nursing but also be trained in computer technology. Although electronic medical records (EMR) and charts can be an effective time management tool, some questions have been asked about exactly how this impacts the nursing role and process, as well as the ultimate effects on patient safety and confidentiality. To explore these topics, I will discuss individual aspects of EMRs that nurses use daily, their impact on collaborative care, and their impact on the nursing role. At the General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital (GLWACH) Emergency Department, manual paper charts are still used to record most patient care provided; the exception would be necessary laboratory studies and any type of radiological procedure that must be performed. These orders are then entered into the computer system, most often by nurses. I had the opportunity to observe both positive and negative indications during my 72-hour preceptorship at the General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital. Some of the advantages of EMRs and electronic cards are: they are passcode protected, allow quick access to information, readability and organization aspects, time efficiency and allow easy transfer of data that minimizes errors. If a patient arrives by ambulance and is not in the middle of a paper...... Computers and EMR on ADVANCE for nurses. ADVANCE for nurses. Retrieved April 16, 2012 from http://nursing.advanceweb.com/Regional-Content/Articles/Nursing-Informatics-EMR.aspxDykes, P., Cashen, M., Foster, M., Gallagher, J., Kennedy, M., MacCallum, R. et al. (2006). Serving acute care providers in the United States to explore the impact of HIT on the role of nurses and interdisciplinary communication in acute care settings. Journal of Healthcare Information Management, 36-44. Retrieved April 16, 2012 from http://www.nursingcenter.com/library/JournalArticle.asp?Article_ID=678742 Yee, T., Needleman, J., Pearson, M., Parkerton, P., & Wolstein, J. (2012 ). The influence of integrated electronic devices... [Comput Inform Nurs. 2012] - PubMed - NCBI. National Center for Biotechnology Information. Accessed April 16, 2012 from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22411414