Implementing Health IT: The Nurse's Role in EHR Success

Introduction to EHR Implementation

There are a number of steps to consider when implementing a new health information technology system. The government organization HealthIT.gov outlines the basic steps in this process, including assessing practice readiness, planning the approach, selecting a system, training and implementation, and finally achieving meaningful use and quality improvement (HealthIT.gov, 2013). Each of these stages requires careful coordination across departments and stakeholder groups within a healthcare organization.

Organizational Readiness and Goal Setting

The first step—organizational readiness—is one of the most critical components of a successful implementation. It requires the organization to clearly understand its goals, which is especially important because different systems are designed to do different things. Furthermore, electronic health record systems are often quite expensive, so most healthcare organizations must plan their implementation as part of their budgeting process, tying expenditure to specific organizational goals (Coye & Kell, 2006). There is usually a cross-functional team involved in building out the technology stack for a healthcare organization, and this is one of the key areas where nurses contribute meaningfully to the process.

The Nurse's Role in System Evaluation

Nurses serve on the front lines of patient care. They are frequently the primary end users of health information systems, and therefore they have specific and well-informed needs regarding those systems. If nurses are unable to extract value from a system, the system may not represent a sound investment; value must be realized through efficiency gains across repeated clinical processes. A nurse is in an ideal position to articulate what they need from health information technology and whether a particular system will help, hinder, or remain neutral to the nursing role.

Once organizational goals have been defined, a team will research available alternatives, taking into account the requirements and parameters identified by nurses, physicians, the finance department, and administrators. The same team that established the specifications will typically be called upon to evaluate the competing options. This is where both firsthand research and examination of peer testimonials play an important role. For example, several platforms are specifically designed for peer reviews of business-to-business software and technology. Sites such as G2 Crowd, TrustRadius, and similar resources host validated user reviews of health information technology products. A nurse involved in this process can consult these platforms to see what other users—including fellow nurses—have said about the software. In this way, nurses contribute to the shared body of knowledge about health information systems, and that shared knowledge assists the broader medical community in evaluating the available alternatives.

References

Coye, M. & Kell, J. (2006). How hospitals confront new technology. Health Affairs, 25(1).

HealthIT.gov (2013). How to implement EHRs. HealthIT.gov. Retrieved January 2, 2018, from

Murphy, M. (2015). In change management, start with champions, not antagonists. Forbes. Retrieved January 2, 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/markmurphy/2015/06/25/in-change-management-start-with-champions-not-antagonists/