...Informatics Needs Assessment Marisa Mox HSN/375 February 6, 2016 Suzanne Spradley Informatics Needs Assessment The informatics needs assessment is an essential first step in the selection and implementation of an Electronic Health Record (EHR) for a healthcare workplace. This paper will address the purpose of a needs assessment and factors that need to be considered in the needs assessment. Additionally, this paper will explore the types of data that need to be collected and how and where that data can be accessed. This paper will also describe who should be consulted and the rationale why. Finally, this paper will include how the information from the needs assessment could be organized and presented to upper management. The purpose of a needs assessment is to “determine the gap between the organization’s current state and the overall needs of the organization” (Hebda & Czar, 2013). Specifically an informatics needs assessment will assist in selecting the electronic health record that will fit the needs of the organization. This involves putting together the data and information important to the organizations goal (Sewell & Thede, 2013). A needs assessment is an excellent tool for a facility to determine how to move from where they are to where they want to be. Several factors need to be considered when conducting a needs assessment. It is important to determine who has identified the need for an electronic record and to get their input. Did the request...
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...A Case Review of EHR Implementation in a Pediatric Emergency Department Jennifer Juif Southern New Hampshire University A Case Review of EHR Implementation in a Pediatric Emergency Department Organizations face many challenges when implementing an electronic medical record (EHR) system. Quality, safety, and efficiency need to be maintained during implementation. The case study reviewed: Impact of electronic health record implementation on patient flow metrics in a pediatric emergency department (Kennebeck, Timm, Farrell, Sooner, 2012) attempted to quantify the effects of offloading low acuity patients and its impact on length of stay. Length of stay and volume of patients in an emergency department are correlated. The study was conducted in a pediatric emergency department (ER) in Cincinnati, Ohio. Prior to implementation, a plan was utilized to off load patients to a different area in the ER due to a surge from the H1N1 flu virus. This was successful in decreasing patient numbers and length of stay. The organization decided to use the same template for the EHR implementation. Despite its prior success, offloading patients did not improve efficiency or length of stay (LOS) during EHR implementation. The primary issue identified was the failure of offloading patients. The study stated, “During implementation only 5% of patients were diverted. During the H1N1 surge, 10-20% of patients were diverted.” (Kennebeck, Timm, Farrell, Spooner, 2012). The...
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...Introduction Nursing informatics (NI) is the discipline that incorporates nursing science with many data management and systems sciences to ascertain, describe, manage, and communicate data, information, knowledge, and wisdom in nursing practice. Nursing Informatics supports nurses, customers or patients, the Interprofessional healthcare team, and other stakeholders in their decision-making in each role and backgrounds to achieve anticipated results. This support is accomplished through the use of information structures, information methods, and information technology (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, 2017). Moreover, Informatics is becoming progressively extant in the nursing vocation due to fast-changing technologic innovations. Healthcare systems are integrating technology into everyday practice at a quick stride. One significant advancement in healthcare technology is an electronic medical record (EMR). “An EMR includes the...
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...UNIVERSITY NURSING PROGRAM NURSE – 8210- TRANSFORMING NURSING PAPER: MEANINGFUL USE PREPARED BY: ZAIDA RUIZ PROFESSOR: MURIELLE BEENE November 11, 2015 The health care system needed some structure. Needed to speak the same language and have a common goal, “the Patient.” The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) invested a large amount of money for promotion and use of the informatics technology. Today Medicare and Medicaid are following the same footsteps. They are awarding incentives for the use of Electronic Health Records. However, what is the urgency? Why are they even willing to penalize the non-participant? Patient safety is the answer. The meaningful use was created seeking the quality of care safety and reduction of disparity. The meaningful use wants patient information to be electronically documented in a database system that interconnects to any other health database regardless geographical location. Meaningful use recognizes that making such a drastic change from paper to electronic documentation is very costly. There are many Issues still present that prevent some institutions from implementing EHR. One of these issues is the financial part that entails. It cost too much to implement EHR’s this is the voice of hundreds of owners of health institutions. Removing the old system from every floor, every station and every office is very costly. On top of that having the employers and employees train on how to use the EHR system is...
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...Module 6 Quiz 1. Did the EHR seem to be well aligned with SunHealth’s overall strategic plan? Explain your rationale. SunHealth wanted to implement electronic health record (HER) to improve patient safety, decrease medical errors, and help ensure the providers were using evidence base medicine. The organization also envisioned HER allowing patients to view their records through a PHR or a patient portal, the patients then would become more involved in their own health care. Ultimately, EHR became a great tool to create a patient-centered environment and improve care coordination. SunHealth implemented HER using a phase approach, since they were afraid to go in all one shot. They set out four phases, have completed two so far, and just started the third phase. Thus, EHR seemed to be well aligned with SunHealth’s overall strategic plan. 2. Does Melissa Drake appear to possess the qualities and characteristics of an effective project manager? Why or why not? What other qualities might be important for a project manager in a case such as this one? Melissa Drake appears to possess the qualities and characteristics of an effective project manager. First, she has the technical expertise, as she has been a critical care nurse for 10 years. Second, she is well respected in the organization. Third, she is able to detail the project’s objectives, scope, and intended results. Other qualities that might be important for a project manager include a wide range of...
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...Healthcare Winning the EHR Battle with Enterprise Content Management How Sentara Healthcare created a comprehensive EHR solution Featuring the results oF the Document management Survey June 2010 2 This article is based on a webinar presented by Hyland Software in May 2011. To view the on demand version of the webinar, please visit www.healthcareitnews.com Sentara’s EHR solution bridges the gap between paper and electronic documents A ssembling a full-scale, workable electronic health record system is like solving a puzzle. There are multiple pieces, variables and options to coordinate. System designers at Sentara Healthcare in Norfolk, Va., faced this situation in 2003 when they embarked on their own EHR quest. Ultimately, the team decided on a comprehensive, integrated solution and not a single-source technology to meet their needs. The result: Roughly $34.5 million in business savings and benefits as of 2009. Aaron Koehler, a senior software engineer at Sentara, the nation’s top integrated health system ranked by Modern Healthcare magazine, played a key role in the project. In a recent Healthcare IT News webinar sponsored by Hyland Software, Koehler explained that there’s no cookie-cutter approach to implementing an EHR system. Health care providers must carefully assess what configuration best meets their needs. For Sentara, among other things, that meant including an enterprise content management (ECM) system as part of its EHR solution, the Sentara...
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...Nurse Informatics Shannon S Goff Western Governors University Nursing Assignment The technology necessary to meet the federally mandated requirements which will affect the merged healthcare organizations. Electronic health records with satellite facilities supported by remote technology. Electronic health records emerged as one of the most relevant topics in health care; EHRs are central in the strategy of federal government to transform health care providing in the U.S. (Henricks, 2011). Federal actions are promoting EHR in order to guarantee important implications for nursing practices. The technology implies also payment penalties for those providers who do not manage to meet the requirements of EHRs use. EHR technology has to be certified according to technical and functional criteria that are set forth by the government. The using of EHR technology is significantly important for laboratories (Henricks, 2011) since the certification criteria of EHR have to be related directly to laboratory testing or laboratory management. Federal government identified the goals for improving healthcare and EHRs are central for these goals. EHRs with satellite facilities aims at the following points, it should: * improve safety, efficiency, and quality of public healthcare and reduce people's health disparities; * engage the patients and their families in healthcare services; * improve healthcare coordination; * improve public health and population in general; ...
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...Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. In each hospital the system was managed by a team from the administrative department, without a hospital doctor or trained epidemiologist. Before the field test, in five voluntary clinical departments in each hospital, administrative staff underwent intensive training for three weeks. Project presentation workshops with clinicians and nurses were organised in all hospitals, and a ministry of health supervisory team (epidemiologists) was responsible for technical implementation and follow up. After six months the assessment showed a major failure in implementing the system for three main reasons: * Heavy administrative workload generated by management's inadequate medical and epidemiological education * Limited involvement of medical teams, possibly because of the responsibilities attributed to the administrative departments * Difficulty perceived among practitioners of implementing a health information system that was not judged to be a public health priority, partly because of insufficient knowledge about the goals and functions of a computerised system.2 One of the recommendations of the evaluation was to create specific medical information units with highly specialised epidemiologists in each hospital. Another was to involve healthcare professionals in the...
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...a reimbursement for physician and providers who demonstrate being successful “meaningful users” of electronic health record (EHR). Meaningful Use is part of the EHR requirements targeted for completion in 2014. Meaningful Use was created in order to capture the right data to improve patient outcomes. If I am in a position as a nurse manager, I would do the following to ensure and facilitate the Meaningful Use’s implementation into the EHR: Part I: Implementing documentation: 1. Record demographic information (preferred...
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...strict regulations on the security of health information and has allotted for stricter penalties for non-compliance. The advancement of electronic health record (EHR) systems has brought greater fluidity and compliance with healthcare but has also brought greater security risk of protected information. In order to ensure compliance with government standards organizations must adapt technologies such as CPOE and EHR. The use of such technologies also require organizations to develop policies and safeguards to protect both themselves but the community they serve. Team Members and Responsibilities To ensure success in the merger of the health care system, a team of highly trained and competent members will be needed. An implementation manager would be the leader of the team, responsible for keeping the project on schedule, keeping a list of practice issues that need to be resolved, scheduling go live dates, and also be responsible to delegate task to other members of the implementation team. A physician lead is another valuable member of the implementation team. Acting as a liaison between physicians and the implementation team, they serve as a point of reference for how things are done from a clinical standpoint, and how the physicians needs the system to function. ("Creating a Leadership Team for Successful EHR Implementation", 2013) The physician leader bridges the gap between physicians and the electronic health record implementation, they are responsible to communicate...
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...| Role | Expertise | Nursing Educator | Will evaluate the new system’s usability compared to the old system. Will also be responsible arranging training sessions for all staff. | RN with MSN in Education. Ability to train all staff will make the system change successful | IS manager | Manages the staff that will implement the new system. Must make sure all tech support has proper training | BS in Informatics. Training his staff to effectively help users with technical issues are imperative to system’s success | Chief Nursing Officer | Will be the voice of the nursing staff, bringing concerns to the table. | Determining if the usability of the system from the viewpoint of the nurses (the largest number of users) is imperative. | Chief Medical Officer | Will be the voice of the physicians, bringing concerns to the table. | Determining if the usability of the system from the viewpoint of the doctors is imperative. | Project Committee Interoperability The National Alliance for Health Information Technology defined interoperability as the ability of different information technology systems and software applications to communicate, to exchange data accurately, effectively, and consistently, and to use the information that has been exchanged (Olaronke & Rhoda, 2013) Interoperability is important because it enables medical organizations to operate much more efficiently; it makes it easier for staff to manipulate information quickly; it enhances safety and the quality...
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...potentially saving millions of dollars. The EHR is a longitudinal electronic record of patient health information compiled from all the different encounters that an individual comes upon in various different medical care settings and automates all the data, allowing providers to have all the information in one electronic record. Electronic health records have enormous benefits to offer the healthcare industry, an important one being that they are permanent and cannot be lost; however, it is imperative that all facilities take the time, effort, and resources to incorporate it into their systems. Electronic Health Records: Transforming Today’s Healthcare The electronic health record and the use of clinical informatics have made great strides in improving the quality of care we provide for the population and also saving the industry millions of dollars. “The EHR has the ability to generate a complete record of a clinical patient encounter - as well as supporting other care-related activities directly or indirectly via interface - including evidence-based decision support, quality management, and outcomes reporting.” (HIMSS, 2011) Nurses play an important role in helping to facilitate the success of the EHR because they are often at the forefront in the documentation process in many healthcare settings. The EHR uses clinical document architecture (CDA) data standards. Using one type of standard and structure allows the EHR to be used in all different settings...
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...the key managers during the implementation of the EHR at our facility about a year ago. I have spoke to her via email about her experiences throughout the implementation process. The organization’s previous clinical systems and the motivation for the recent or current implementation The purposes and functions that were to be fulfilled with the implementation of an EHR system are to have a safer and more cost effective care for the facility. The EHR system will guide the physicians in making care decisions that result in the best treatment for all patients. It will indirectly benefit the rest of the care team. This includes, but is not limited to the nursing staff, by producing legible, complete orders that have already been checked for any medication contraindications, dosing errors, duplicates, or potential conflicts with specific patient data. This will result in the billing department spending less time following up on incomplete, illegible, or conflicting orders, and more time on following up on claims and getting them paid. The flow of data in the previous existing clinical system Other patient safety benefits of an EHR system comes from the effect such systems have on the physician's decision making process about what therapies to order for patients. The flow of data before the EHR implementation were paper based charts that were unorganized and it was difficult to read physicians notes and orders. The new EHR provides access to current patient information, the...
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...We assembled a team of members to assist with this task and together we have narrowed the search to two health care systems. Those two systems are EPIC and Meditech and we will now discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each, with a final recommendation for our new healthcare system. Identification and Roles of Team Members/Expertise The first person on this team is the acute care nurse manager. The acute care nurse manager is a bachelor prepared nurse and is beneficial to this team because of her close relationship with staff nurses. She will have input from floor nurses and be able to contribute important information about charting from the nursing standpoint. The nurse manager will be able to assist with questions that staff nurses may have during implementation and training. This member is able to discuss what the nursing staff needs for adequate charting. She will be able to look at each computerized system and contribute a nurses point of view. The second team member will be the chief medical officer. The physician has the input from other doctors and will be able to answer questions for other doctors during training and implementation. This doctor is familiar with several computerized management systems and will be able to contribute inside information about each system. He will be able to compare each physician ordering system to help decide which system is right for the hospital. The third member of the team is the information specialist. The information...
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...system is selected it will cost the organization time and money (Carter, 2015). Anyone who is organized and detailed orientated can orchestrate a needs assessment (Carter, 2015). Needs Assessment Why and How A needs assessment bridges the gap between the current state and the organizations strategic plans (Hebda, 2013). Keeping in mind that not all problems can be solved using the EHR (Lorenzi, Kouroubali, Detmer, & Bloomrosen, 2016). In addition to the EHR the organization should assess policies, employee training and other resources as solutions (Lorenzi et al., 2016). Additionally, an assessment of the organizations readiness to change and the personnel’s ability to accept and apply new technology are important. Key to implementing a needs assessment and purchasing an EHR is assigning an innovative person that is able to visualize the future improved by the right EHR, that person is called the Champion (Lorenzi et al., 2016). The Champion will help lead and organize the Steering Committee, a select group of personnel with varying levels of education to purchase the best EHR (Lorenzi et al., 2016). Goal identification is a key aspect of selecting the right solution and a product that the organization will be happy with for the long term (Hebda, 2013). When planning a needs assessment it is important to create an assessment report to prioritize the organizations goals (Lorenzi et al., 2016). Factors to Consider in a Needs Assessment Purchasing...
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