In this blog post, we discuss seven tips for transforming clinical care by choosing the right EHR system. Your hospital could choose any electronic health record (EHR) system to care for patients and manage its operations. But selecting an EHR can transform your hospital’s patient and staff experiences.
1) Determine What You Don’t Know
You must identify your requirements before you can seek solutions.
Start planning well ahead of your implementation deadline to allow time to learn what you need to succeed. Engage an objective, vendor-neutral third party to help you assess your needs and analyze the knowledge you accumulate.
Independent subject-matter experts can establish your "facility/organizational unique requirements" and share their relevant experience with EHR vendors and systems.
2) Educate End Users
Communicate the benefits the new system will bring and the challenges you will encounter along the way.
Outline the process for procuring, designing and implementing your new EHR system.
Explain EHR concepts like “Data Integration” and “Design and Configuration” to stakeholders. Discern between “requirements” and “needs”.
3) Engage Your Experts
Do not try and engage everyone. Rather, interview contacts from across all of your organization’s divisions, including business and clinical departments.
Ensure a representative sample of subject-matter experts, particularly in key areas of operations or centers of excellence. Assess needs in any areas of strategic imperatives for the future as well, like new service lines, buildings or joint ventures.
Shadow your staff, learning workflows and talking with stakeholders about what is unique to their work. Ask subject-matter experts from each division to identify mission-critical workflows that your new EHR system must incorporate.