Electronic Health Record Implementation Paper

Electronic Health Record Implementation Paper

Nursing is an evolving practice that readily embraces opportunities for care quality and patient safety improvement. In this evolving practice, the role of science, data, and technology is critical; thus, organizational management and nurse leaders should continually integrate innovation into patient care (Lunden et al., 2021). Opportunities for tracking care improvement involve data collection, analysis, and evaluation. Accordingly, health care organizations should invest in robust systems that capture real-time data using electronic health records (EHRs) and protect sensitive information from unauthorized access and other risks. The purpose of this paper is to describe the processes and key considerations for implementing a new EHR system in a practice setting.

Opportunity for Tracking Care Improvement and Key Information in the Database

Advanced registered nurses should play a central role in improving care quality. They should be involved in developing initiatives for reducing service delays, improving teamwork, and promoting technology use in health care delivery. A perfect opportunity for tracking care improvement is the time lapse from when a patient’s visit to the emergency room is recorded in the EHR to when the patient receives medical attention. From a health dimension, long waiting time characterizes delays and increases patient dissatisfaction and discomfort (Biya et al., 2022). Long waiting time also reduces health care utilization, increases the chances of health complications, and discourages patients from returning to the health care facility.

Data helps health care practitioners to make timely, accurate decisions. Key information that would be needed in the database includes patient demographics, type of health conditions, and time-lapse before medical attention. Information on time-lapse is critical to improving care outcomes since it would help health care practitioners to identify potential delays and their causes. Common causes of delays in the emergency room include extended waiting lists, shortage of hospital beds, and inadequate testing equipment (Caesar et al., 2018). Such data can help the organization’s management and advanced registered nurses to collaborate and develop evidence-based interventions for delay prevention.

Role of Informatics and Project Management Strategies

Role of Informatics

The role of informatics is integral in advancing nursing practice since it encourages innovation and promotes efficiency. Alexander et al. (2019) described informatics as integrating science and technology for better patient outcomes. In data capturing, informatics helps health care practitioners to collect timely and accurate data. In this case, data on patient demographics, illnesses, and the time spent before receiving medical assistance would be collected timely and accurately. Informatics would also help to capture data in multiple formats. For instance, data for patients who have visited the emergency room before can be collected via demographics. Informatics can also help to capture data into categories. A suitable example is a graphical representation of waiting time to facilitate a detailed analysis of the severity of the situation.

Project Management Strategies and Methodologies

Effective patient care combines nursing and other concepts outside the health practice. Project management strategies to support informatics initiatives to help improve quality within the clinical care settings include planning, risk management, and goal-setting. Typically, informatics initiatives are complex, time-consuming, and resource-intensive hence the need for adequate planning. Risk management entails developing adequate measures for assessing risk potential, measurement, and mitigation measures (NEJM Catalyst, 2018). Goal-setting is also crucial to ensure that the purpose and deliverables of an initiative are clear and measurable. Suitable project management methodologies include the application of work breakdown structure (WBS) and Gantt charts. WBS and Gantt charts help in planning and scheduling tasks for easy implementation (Vaagaasar et al., 2020). A similar approach is necessary for EHR implementation to ensure that deliverables are clear and resources channeled towards supporting informatics initiatives are used prudently.