Integrating EHRs into many types of workflows that work for clinicians and patients requires creative thinking and a lot of communication among staff responsible for rolling out the functionality.
This gallery highlights best practices in launching new EHRs, managing bar code tools, at-home patient monitoring, integrating genomics and maximizing efficiency (and fewer clicks).
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Medication errors have dropped and the number of nurses using bar code medication administration systems and physicians using computerized order entry systems has soared at Kaiser Permanente, which implemented a barcode system for medication management and an electronic health record system with built-in CPOE to accomplish these goals.
Though natural language processing is not without its challenges, it can offer valuable benefits when used wisely, said Anupam Goel, vice president of clinical information at Chicago-based Advocate Health Care. While NLP can offer advanced diagnostic benefits, it depends heavily on the specifics of how clinicians enter their documentation. The moment is ripe for NLP-enabled charting, he said.
Cerner and Truman Medical Centers in Kansas City are working together to create disease management programs that employ patient monitoring technology in patients’ homes. Cerner’s HealtheIntent technology aggregates and analyzes participants’ health information and sends automated alerts in near real-time to help care teams intervene when they observe concerning data patterns. Program participants are connected to remote patient monitoring with medical devices that are joined to their electronic health records.
The health system hired a dedicated communication person a year before go-live to handle staff readiness and assessments. Operational leaders handled training and helped staff to practice with the system in preparation.
Data from Vanderbilt, Marshfield Clinic could help identify individuals who are at-risk for certain autoimmune diseases. Researchers created what they label as the first comprehensive catalog of diseases associated with variations in human leukocyte antigen, or HLA – genes that regulate the body's immune system. The catalog could help identify individuals who are at-risk for certain autoimmune diseases or who may generate antibodies that attack their own tissues in response to an infection.
By leveraging nursing informatics, Carolinas Healthcare reduced documentation time for head-to-toe assessment by 20 percent, which is equivalent to about 35,000 working hours returned to nurses directed back to patient care. Additionally, CHS saw a 14 percent improvement in on-time medication administration, equal to about 400,000 eliminated clicks within the EHR. In total, CHS eliminated 5.8 million nursing tasks and reduced clicks by 17.8 million - or three or more clicks per task.
Houston Methodist replaced best-of-breed clinical applications with an integrated EHR. The successful transition involved managing not just technology but, equally as important, employees across multiple teams.
Remote patient monitoring is on the rise, but the challenges to flowing outside data into existing electronic health records are substantial. In the Journal of AHIMA, five key areas health information management professionals should stay focused on to optimize the integration of remote device data with electronic health records.
In this report, NIST's human factors research uncovered some potentially problematic trends with regard to volume, attribution and veracity of clinical data when copy/paste is used. NIST outlines best practices, suggesting that copy-and-paste data should be easily identifiable, with its original source easy to discern.
With IT having become so intrinsic to care delivery, most CXOs polled agree that physicians and other frontline staff are playing an expanded role in driving tech choices a report from the Experience Innovation Network reveals.
Vanderbilt’ is focusing on three core components to successfully launch its Epic EHR in November: people, process and technology. And technology is the smallest concern of the three.
Healthcare IT News received nearly 100 answers from insiders at provider organizations, technology vendors and consulting shops about what they liked, or didn't like, about their EHRs.
