Wk 5 Response 2 Nursing Technology

Question Description

APA format*** 2 paragraphs***at least 4-5 sentences each paragraph***2 References***

Please create a response to my classmates response Below:

My classmates Response is below:

For nurses who have entered the workforce within the last 10 years, paper charting may be something only talked about by older nurses, or utilized begrudgingly during downtime. Since the passage of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (HITECH) that promoted the adoption and meaningful use of electronic health records (EHR), EHRs have become synonymous with medical care (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2015). While it may seem that EHRs are efficient and easy to use, the process of adopting these systems is not without challenges.

Resistance to Implementation

Staff resistance to the adoption of an EHR is one of the most challenging aspects of implementing the system in health care facilities. I have even heard grumblings from fellow nurses about finding another job when my facility spoke about initiating the change to EHRs. In fact, “leadership, planning, management, choices, and execution usually are more difficult than dealing with hardware and software choices” (Mooney & Boyle, 2011, p. S5)). It is so important to have buy-in from nursing staff, as they make up a significant portion of health care workforce. In order to combat this resistance, staff nurses should be involved in the transition process from the beginning. If nurses feel that they have stake in the process, they will feel more invested in the outcome and successful on-boarding of the new technology. I suggest having staff nurses participate in early planning meetings, and to train staff nurses to become ‘super users’ within the facility. It will be helpful during implementation for nurses to be assisted by peers versus outside professionals.

Flexibility and Expandability

When choosing an EHR to implement in your workplace, it is so important to plan for the future so that you can ensure that as your facility grows and changes, the EHR can flex with it. For example, in my winter job at a ski resort, electronic charting was implemented only last year. There was a lot of thought that went into the selection process, however, decision-makers did not plan for coordination with Ski Patrol’s electronic charting system. Unfortunately, DocuTap (used by our clinic) does not interoperate with any of the Ski Patrol software currently available. This poses a challenge, as much of the information needed at each place is similar and shared between disciplines. As it stands now, Ski Patrol continues to use paper charting, while the clinic uses DocuTap. We have to copy the information obtained by ski patrol and hand-deliver it to the clinic. To combat this issue, it is imperative that the development team evaluate all software options, as well as the tech support each one offers as this may be a higher start-up cost, but save money in the long-run (Mooney & Boyle, 2011).

Process Improvement

Once an EHR is implemented and the extra support staff is gone, the challenges do not end. Once nurses begin to use the technology more comfortably, they may identify a process that needs to be changed to make it more user-friendly or to better suit the needs of the staff. In order for staff to continue to use the technology appropriately, they need to feel that their input is valued and that there is the possibility for change and improvement within the software after it is implemented. My suggestion to help with this issue is to have a nurse liaison who has clinical experience within the organization and has an interest in nursing informatics. This individual’s role is to act as a leader by relaying staff concerns to the software company to see if there are changes that can be made to make the software more user-friendly or to more appropriately meet the needs of staff. “What health care needs most are effective leaders who understand innovation and how it spreads, who respect the diversity of change itself, and who can nurture innovation in all its rich and many costumes” (Hyrkas & Harvey, 2010, p. 1). The hospital I work for has a liaison employed by Cerner, the company who manages the software we use. This nurse was a staff nurse in the emergency department, then a clinical nurse educator. This system works very well for us.

Summary

In conclusion, there are several potential challenges to implementing EHRs, including: resistance to implementation, flexibility and expandability, and process improvement. Since the HITECH Act of 2009, EHRs have been initiated in every major medical facility in the country. Though not without obstacles, meaningful use of EHRs contribute to the safe, efficient, and accessibility of medical information.

References

Hyrkäs, K., & Harvey, K. (2010). Leading innovation and change. Journal of Nursing Management, 18(1), 1–3.

McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2015). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (3rd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning.

Mooney, B. L., & Boyle, A. M. (2011). 10 steps to successful EHR implementation. Medical Economics, 88(9), S4–6, S8–S11.

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