Application of Electronic Health Records Systems

Adoption Of the EHR Technology Systems

In a contemporary health environment, nurses have long been using the computer technology to achieve the health outcomes such as the laboratory tests, however, the EHR (electronic health records) has become a revolutionary innovative technology for the enhancement of the healthcare system. It is very critical for nurses to understand their roles as an agent of changes and influence other to change the tradition way of doing things. My role as a nursing facilitator of a small hospital in New York is to prepare the implementation plan of a new EHR system for the hospital. While the decision has been finalized for the implementation of the EHR, nevertheless, there is still a resistance from the nurses of the hospital.

The objective of this paper is to use the five qualities of the Roger (2003) model for the implementation of the new system.

Application of the Roger's Model

Roger's model is an innovative diffusion process that emphasizes on the strategy the innovation is rejected or accepted by a particular organization. Roger argues that an organization is required to make an innovation more appealing to the member of an organization. The paper uses the Roger model to make the implementation of the electronic health record more acceptable to the nurses of the hospital.

Relative advantage: Roger (2003) points out that an individual adopting an innovation should perceive the new idea as better that include its ability to provide the economic advantages, satisfaction, convenience, or social prestige. In other words, "relative advantage is the degree to which an innovation is perceived as better than the current idea or practice; the greater the perceived relative advantage of an innovation." (Lee, 2004 p 232).

A major advantage of the electronic health record is that it saves a relative amount of nurse's time. Unlike the traditional method that involves storing data on the error-prone printed paper, the EHR makes nurses more efficient because it will assist them assessing patient record at a faster rate. Moreover, the EHR eliminates the medical errors associated to the healthcare system. The EHR also saves the costs of record administration, which will assist the organization to reduce the cost of operations, and consequently increase the organizational revenue.

Compatibility with the existing practices and values: Roger (2003) argues that organizations that intend to adopt the innovation practice that will align with the current practice should be consistency with the practice values. One of the ways in which the EHR will improve the value of the nursing professional is its contribution to the financial improvement and potential productivity. Typically, the EHR enhances the efficiency by improving the billing and reduce transcription costs. Additionally, the implementation of the EHR will enhance the quality of healthcare improvement. For example, the EHR will be able to assist the management of chronic disease as well increasing the preventive care service. Additionally, the EHR will assist the nursing professionals to have a quick access to data that consequently enhances high-quality healthcare delivery. (Lee, 2004).

Simplicity: Rogers (2003) argues that the adopter should be able to master the new technology easily. The more a technology poses challenges for learning, the more it will be resisted by the nursing professionals. A staff training is very critical for a successful EHR implementation to make nurses ready to use the technology. The training program should be carried out to enhance the knowledge of the nurses about the operation of the technology. The training module should be friendly and easy to understand to make nurses implementing the technology with easy. The paper suggests using the PowerPoint presentation for the training. When the training program is a user-friendly and easy to understand, the implementation of the technology will not be challenging.

Trialability: Rogers (2003) points out that it is very critical for the adopter to explore the technology before an actual implementation. In another word, the trialability is the degree by which the nurses experiment the technology on a limited time. Thus, the organization should allow the nursing professionals to experiment with the technology to ensure that the technology meets the nursing needs. Essentially, the electronic health records are designed to enhance the efficiency of the nursing professional. Since the EHR is a new technology, allowing the nurses to use the technology for a limited time will reduce the nurses' resistance towards the implementation of the new technology.

Observable results: An effective strategy to record the observable the results is to use the technology for a period of time and compare the results with the traditional method. The organization should both the quantitative and qualitative techniques for the observable results.. For example, the organization should compare the time taking to access and store the data using the traditional method and the EHR system. The costs saving is another quantitative technique to observe the results. It is presumed that the EHR reduces the costs of record administration. The organization should also use the survey or interview technique to collect the feedback of the nurses and patients about the results of the new technology. (Evans, & Stemple, 2008).