Clinical IT has influenced many areas of the medical field. Information technology has improved the field by “helping people revisualize and redesign their information and knowledge management skills and learn new ways to use clinical data to manage clinical practice and patient care” (McLane & Turley , 2011). The purpose of this paper is to explore information technology to streamline paperwork, provide decision support tools, and examine its contribution to patient safety. Information Technology Simplifies Paperwork and Communication Information technology has simplified paperwork by placing information in a centralized location. Information technology has many avenues for developing improvements in patient care. The introduction of electronic medical records (EMRs) provides a central source of information for locating and entering patient information. The accessibility of information created by IT makes information easily accessible for the healthcare team. The EMR has not only streamlined paperwork, but has created a social network for everyone involved in patient care. The EMR has been shown to “improve the accuracy, readability, timeliness, and completeness of documentation” (Lyden, 2008, p.14). Having all the information centralized and readable allows nurses or other people caring for the patient to expedite the services needed to improve patient outcomes. As stated by Hedba and Czar (2009), there are six qualities needed to have a successful EMR: “fast, familiar, flexible, improves workflow, improves documentation, and meets regulatory requirements” (p. 303). Each of these components improves accessibility for the healthcare team in terms of overall productivity, patient outcomes, and communication....... middle of paper ....../datamining.pdf?src=cii20110110Longo, DR, Hewett, J. E., Ge, B., & Schubert, S. (2005). The long road to patient safety: a report on the state of patient safety systems. JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association, 294(22), 2858-2865.McLane, S., & Turley, J.P. (2011). Informatics: how they can benefit your healthcare organization. Journal of Nursing Administration, 41(1), 29-35. doi:10.1097/NNA.0b013e3181fc19d6Pagliari, C., Detmer, D., & Singleton, P. (2007). Potential of the electronic personal health record. BMJ: British Medical Journal (international edition), 335(7615), 330-333. Doi:10.1136/bmj.39279.482963.adWilson, J., Oyen, L., Ou, N., McMahon, M., Thompson, R., Manahan, J., & ... Estes, L. (2005). Hospital rule-based system: The next generation of medical informatics for patient safety. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 62(5), 499-505.