By Sheryl Bushman, DO, FACOOG(D) | SVP, Physician Advisory
We understand that implementing new EHR systems isn’t easy. It’s difficult to take the time when you really want to focus on your patients. That’s why my role at Continuum Health IT is to help health systems and providers get through the day-to-day struggles with the electronic health record. I help doctors and other stakeholders become comfortable and savvy with their system, help ease the transition, and strengthen processes.
With this blog series, I aim to help health systems and providers avoid common pitfalls and launch their new EHR system with success.
Avoiding Pitfalls of New EHR Systems: Decision Making
Too often, I see decision-making around new EHR systems happen without all the key team members at the table. It’s so important to involve everyone who will be impacted by the system and allow them to share their input and ideas. Yet, key team members are often overlooked and left out.
It’s understandable. In a very busy day-to-day medical practice, the focus is on taking care of patients. You juggle multiple tasks, wear multiple hats, and are asked a thousand questions all in the course of a day. Decision-making is difficult and has to happen quickly.
As a consequence, we sometimes allow those people who are closest to the workflow to simply do their work, and we let surrogate decision-makers take charge. They may come from IT or may be supervisors. They understand everyone’s role at a high level, but they don’t fully understand the day-to-day workflows of the healthcare workers. What happens is that while they believe they’re making the right decisions for operations, they don’t have the full context to do so.
Decision Example: “Where Do You Keep the Computers?”
Here’s an example of a decision you may face. When you implement a new EHR system, where do you place your computers?
It might seem small, but this is truly a big question with big repercussions. You might think, “Well, too many computers will be expensive to maintain, so let’s not keep them by the bedside. Let’s put them down the hall and out of the way.”
Without the right stakeholders at the table, you may not consider that a nurse who has to document on the computers will then need to walk 20 extra feet, 15 times a day or even 30 times a day, in order to reach them. This will be exhausting, so that nurse may cut corners and may not keep documentation as current as needed.
Potential Consequences
Ultimately, this decision could lead to unhappy nurses and unhappy patients as well. Patients may not receive all the care they need. Their nurses won’t have time for patient care when they’re running back and forth down the hall for documentation.
This example shows how not involving the people closest to a workflow decision can lead to serious consequences. Everything from employee satisfaction to efficiency and patient care is affected by this decision. It can also be costly because you could wind up needing to employ more nurses to take care of patients just to cover the time they spend walking down the hall.
How to Make Better EHR System Decisions
As previously stated, one of the biggest pitfalls I see when implementing a new EHR system is when teams make decisions without completely understanding the impact. But you can’t know how you’re not thinking through a decision completely if you don’t involve the right people in the conversation.
Yes, key stakeholders are often busy taking care of patients, but creatively finding ways to include them in the decision-making process will yield efficient processes resulting in cost efficiencies at go live. You don’t want your employees to work harder or longer hours in order to achieve what they used to do.
You may be wondering, if your EHR system is already live, can you make changes? Certainly, you can! You may have to retrain your staff or change the system, but it can be done. Conversations can always happen to thoroughly examine the system and discuss where you can make adjustments and improvements.
Don’t be afraid to invite more team members into the decision-making process. Doing so will help make your team happier, improve efficiency, and ultimately offer better quality patient care.
Schedule a Consultation With Continuum Health IT
It’s never too late to make your EHR system better. Sometimes, it means taking a step back and involving a new, fresh perspective. Sometimes, it takes a trusted partner to help you navigate the process.
Continuum Health IT has the expertise to assist and advise healthcare organizations in all phases of their EHR journey, including new EHR system implementation. We have a team of experts who have held operational leadership roles from clinicians to patient access and revenue, poised to assist your organization in maximizing the talent within your organization. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us — we’re always here to help.