Benchmark – Electronic Health Record Implementation Paper

Benchmark – Electronic Health Record Implementation Paper

Information is critical to providing patient-centered care. Health informatics is focused on how data is acquired, saved, and utilized in health care, and new technological applications are at the heart of these concerns. Providing care, a multidisciplinary, data-intensive, and relatively complex process, is undoubtedly ideal for employing electronic health records for data management and workflow. Electronic Health Records (EHR) are vital for all organizations aiming to improve patient outcomes and simplify clinical operations (Upadhyay & Hu, 2022). Besides enhancing cooperation among healthcare providers, migration from paper documents to one centralized EHR system makes essential patient information available and safe. This paper will discuss the possible consequences of introducing a new EHR system in hospital settings, focusing on observing the outcomes of improvements in patient care workflow. Implementing an electronic health record system with advanced informatics and robust project management strategies can positively contribute to care quality and conform to professional, ethical, and regulatory standards. This paper will discuss the models and methods used during the EHR implementation process and how these technologies foster the sustainability of healthcare improvement and innovations.

An opportunity for tracking care improvement

An essential application of EHR systems, especially in cardiology, is waiting time monitoring and improvement of patients from admission to initial diagnosis. This metric is tremendously critical for evaluating the efficiency of emergency cardiac care, as prompt action can sometimes mean the difference between life and death. Effective monitoring implies that the EHR database shall be specific enough to record the time of the patient’s arrival, the time of the initial nurse assessment, and the time the first cardiologist evaluation took. Providing information on the level of patient care, type of treatment, and patterns of staff shifts can provide essential data that can be used to identify operational inefficiencies and optimize or deploy resources.

Cutting down the period of patient waiting is as good as improving their survival rates in a particular case of acute myocardial infarction, where every minute counts. Studies emphasize that hospitals that have indeed managed to lower their door-to-diagnosis times significantly improved patient outcomes and satisfaction (Mostafa & El-Atawi, 2024). Also, the inclusion of such intelligent, alert systems within EHR, which alerts the essential medical personnel as the critical cardiac patient reaches the hospital, can further reduce the duration of the testing process and thus enhance the effectiveness of emergency cardiology services (Stoumpos et al., 2023).

Role of Informatics in Capturing Data

EHR makes patient information easy to access, store, and organize, supporting clinical decision-making by making order sets, using alerts and reminders, displaying clinical guidelines, and analyzing data (Liou, 2021). In the critical care setup, real-time data capture and analytics can be used to predict the patient’s acute deterioration, which assists doctors in making quick and accurate diagnoses and selecting the right treatment plan. Incorporating modern EHR systems that are fully compliant with informatics tools provides an excellent opportunity to generate real-time data entries regarding patient arrival time, time spent assessing them, and time spent gathering and interpreting the data. These systems can implement machine learning algorithms to foresee high-demand periods and distribute human resources effectively per the requirement (Osterman et al., 2023). Additionally, informatics creates electronic alerts and reminders sent at the right time so that all crucial patient care processes are not missed, thus leading to a convenient and efficient workflow and better patient outcomes.

Strategies for managing projects like Scrum or Kanban can be used to monitor the implementation of informatics programs. The objectivity of these methodologies is that such systems are flexible enough to respond to the varying patient needs in a clinical environment. This allows for testing and refining the EHR features to track patient wait times (Balch et al., 2023). Moreover, implementing informatics with EHR systems guarantees that data governance standards are followed; therefore, patient information is protected while healthcare practitioners have a culture of transparency and continuous improvement.

Systems and Staff Members Involved in the Design and Implementation Process

The development of EHR systems in emergency cardiology has a highly complex environment and requires the participation of many systems and a diverse team of physicians and IT specialists. Core systems comprise EHR software, unified messaging platforms, and data analysis tools that facilitate real-time data processing, leading to data reporting. Clinics and decision support systems, like algorithms, reminders, and e-tools, are another key to supporting primary care through their diagnosis, prevention, and treatment efforts (Sutton, Pincock, 2020). Key staff members involved in this process are:

• IT Professionals: responsible for the technical setup, maintenance, and issue troubleshooting of the EHR system, maintaining reliability and protecting it.
• Clinical Informaticists: They represent the intersection between medical care and IT infrastructure, thus providing a functional solution to EHR that meets the difficulties of the clinical workflow.
• Nurses and Cardiologists: Offer tips on what to record in the electronic health record in an emergency to personalize the system according to this environment.

The role of a leader in advanced registered nurse practice is very significant for implementing evidence-based approaches in the given healthcare setting. They are indispensable in team member training and mentoring on the new system, advocating the use of best practices, and guiding quality improvement initiatives on a data-driven basis from the EHR (Hani et al., 2022). Such professionals back up the technical operations of the EHR system through the integration of the clinical needs of the facility. Thus, it instills cohesion with the EHR system and its application in the daily operations of the healthcare setting.

Strategies for Implementing the New EHR Proposal

Adopting a new EHR platform in emergency cardiology needs proper planning and an efficient implementation where inhabitants get minimum disruption with the highest possible efficiency. The following strategies are fundamental for a successful EHR rollout:

• Pre-Implementation Planning: Conduct full-figure requirement gathering sessions with all stakeholders to understand and document the specific needs. Conduct the process flow analysis and find the solution that eliminates bottlenecks in the EHR system design (Tsai et al., 2020).
• Communication Strategy: a transparent communication strategy that informs stakeholders of timelines, the phase of implementation, deadlines, ongoing communications, surveys, and feedback documentation.
• Training and Support: Implement a tiered training program tailored to the various user groups’ technical proficiencies and clinical roles. Establish a support system with specialists who can assist staff during and after the EHR transition (Tsai et al., 2020).
• Resource Management: Allocate appropriate resources to the implementation, including finances, human capital, and technology resources. Maintain adequate resource allocation controls during the project and its lifecycle, including regular evaluation.
• Change Management: Strategies of change management can address the looming cultural change. They support new staff in adopting new ways of working and deploying new technologies. Leadership at all levels should be involved, and the team leaders should motivate their teams to adopt the new system (Laukka et al., 2020).

Professional, Ethical, and Regulatory Standards Implementation

EHR systems must be designed and implemented according to ethical, regulatory, and professional standards to ensure that healthcare is safe, private, and appropriate. These standards build trust and compliance in healthcare, especially in sensitive fields such as cardiology. Protection of patient privacy and confidentiality is achieved by following HIPAA regulations, while data security is achieved through strong encryption and access controls (Theodos & Sittig, 2020). Checks and compliance inspections regularly are needed to cope with privacy concerns instantaneously.

Ethical usage of data can be ensured by including features like flagging if the wrong determination of diagnostic tools or pharmaceuticals takes place to set the right course of clinical decision (Piasecki et al., 2021). In this regard, the leaders have to develop a solid framework guiding the access and use of data in the organization, ensuring that the data is not accessed and used unethically or fraudulently. It ensures that the EHR system meets the federal and state data reporting and interoperability requirements (Tsai et al., 2020). Fostering adaptability to healthcare laws and regulations denotes quick reporting and compliance with compliance matters. In addition, developing a quality control unit is critical that can contribute towards providing high-quality care through the compliance of treatment protocol and monitoring patients’ outcomes (Salleh et al., 2021). Therefore, the framework of the EHR system should be constantly revised with the help of new evidence-based practices and performance criteria to raise the effectiveness of health care.

Evaluation of the Success of EHR Implementation

EHR deployment success should be defined through many of the station evaluation criteria to be sure that the implementation of the system improves medical delivery and is in line with users’ expectations and demands. Personnel perform regular surveys to know whether an EHR system is functional, usable, and efficient by the users (Salleh et al., 2021). Evaluate the effects of EHR deployment on hospital operations by computing the operational metrics, namely, patient throughput, wait times, and error rates, before and after the implementation. Review the system performance metrics, such as the downtime and response time, to ensure that the EHR can meet the rapidly occurring action in the clinical setting. To determine patients’ satisfaction with the system, surveys will be conducted on issues such as access to personal health information and service barriers since the EHR installation (Upadhyay & Hu, 2022). The quality of patients’ health and revisit rates could show how the EHR positively influences their clinical outcomes. The system needs to establish a continuous feedback loop to enhance the quality of service by presenting evaluation results. The meeting of stakeholders, including service providers, should be done quarterly to discuss the evaluation results and plan relevant improvements.

Leadership Skills and Theories to Facilitate Collaboration with Interprofessional Teams

Effective leadership is inevitably necessary for interprofessional teamwork during EHR implementation. The characteristic qualities and ideas shape the interaction among team members and, thus, support the patient-oriented, evidence-based scenario in place. Transformational leaders can achieve such a purpose by creating a vision that the team insists on getting the new electronic health records system. As per Iqbal et al. (2020), this leadership style advocates creativity among staff, giving rise to several work-around problems and other roadblocks that impede smooth implementation. The administration of EHR changes will be easier to denote by initiating open communication and getting feedback from the team members. Team players should be made to feel important and listened to. Establish collaborative leadership to facilitate a multidisciplinary approach by utilizing IT, nursing, cardiology, and administrative departments. It provides a total apperception of the procedure, ensuring no sides and everyone is involved in the decision-making process. Encourage cross-functional teams to find solutions and innovate using diverse talents and knowledge to enhance the EHR system.

Conclusion

The proper application of an electronic health record (EHR) system for emergency cardiology is one of the major improvements in healthcare technology that has led to a greater impact on the management of patients, operational efficiency, and information processing. The discussion has unraveled some key components and strategies used in EHR implementation, from establishing improvement areas to assessing the overall impact of multiple factors. Informatics is key in such cases, allowing the utilization of accurate and precise data that leads to improved patient decision-making and outcomes. As healthcare moves toward new dimensions, the persistent update and modification of the EHR systems are vital to help clinicians provide exceptional, patient-focused care and address the next level of challenges within the medical environment.

References

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Bornman, J., & Louw, B. (2023). Leadership development strategies in interprofessional healthcare collaboration: A rapid review. Journal of Healthcare Leadership, 15(1), 175–192. https://doi.org/10.2147/JHL.S405983

Hani, S. B., Aldiabat, K. M., & Qadire, M. A. (2022). Nursing leadership style, training methods, and use of electronic health records by nurses in Jordanian hospitals: A descriptive study. Florence Nightingale Journal of Nursing, 30(2). https://doi.org/10.54614/fnjn.2022.20177

Iqbal, K., Fatima, T., & Naveed, M. (2020). The impact of transformational leadership on nurses’ organizational commitment: A multiple mediation model. European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education, 10(1), 262–275. https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe10010021

Laukka, E., Huhtakangas, M., Heponiemi, T., & Kanste, O. (2020). Identifying the roles of healthcare leaders in HIT implementation: A scoping review of the quantitative and qualitative evidence. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(8), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17082865

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Liou, A. (2021). Informatics: An emerging sub-specialty in cardiology. American College of Cardiology. https://www.acc.org/latest-in-cardiology/articles/2021/02/08/19/44/informatics-an-emerging-sub-specialty-in-cardiology

Mostafa, R., & El-Atawi, K. (2024). Strategies to measure and improve emergency department performance: A review. Cureus, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.52879

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Piasecki, J., Walkiewicz-Żarek, E., Figas-Skrzypulec, J., Kordecka, A., & Dranseika, V. (2021). Ethical issues in biomedical research using electronic health records: a systematic review. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 24. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-021-10031-6

Salleh, M. I. M., Abdullah, R., & Zakaria, N. (2021). Evaluating the effects of electronic health records system adoption on the performance of Malaysian health care providers. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, 21(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12911-021-01447-4

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One way informatics can be especially valuable is in capturing data to inspire improvements and quality change in practice. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) collects data related to adverse events and safety concerns. If you are working within a practice setting to implement a new electronic health record (EHR) system, this is just one of the many considerations your team would need to plan for during the rollout process.

In a paper of 1,500-1,750 words, discuss the following:

1. Consider an opportunity for tracking care improvement. What key information would be needed in the database? Example: Time lapse from medication order documented in the EHR to delivery of medication to the patient for the cardiology service.
2. Describe the role informatics plays in the ability to capture this data. What type of project management strategies and methodologies can be implemented to support informatics initiatives to help improve quality within the clinical practice?
3. Discuss which systems and staff members would need to be involved in the design and implementation process. What is the role of the advanced registered nurse in promoting evidence-based practice and leading quality and performance improvement initiatives within this setting?
4. Outline strategies for implementing the new EHR proposal. Consider communication changes, transitioning to the new EHR, and managing resources (human, fiscal, and health care resources).
5. Discuss what professional, ethical, and regulatory standards must be incorporated into the design and implementation of the system.
6. Describe the measures and steps you would take to evaluate the success of the EHR implementation from a staff, setting, and patient perspective to measure effectiveness and ensure continuous quality improvement in practice?
7. Explain what leadership skills and theories would be needed to facilitate collaboration with the interprofessional team and provide evidence-based, patient-centered care?

You are required to cite five to 10 sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be published within the last 5 years and appropriate for the assignment criteria and nursing content.

Complete the “APA Writing Checklist” to ensure that your paper adheres to APA style and formatting criteria and general guidelines for academic writing. Include the completed checklist as an appendix at the end of your paper.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. A link to the LopesWrite technical support articles is located in Class Resources if you need assistance.

Benchmark Information

This benchmark assignment assesses the following programmatic competencies:

MBA-MSN; MSN-Nursing Education; MSN Acute Care Nurse Practitioner-Adult-Gerontology; MSN Family Nurse Practitioner; MSN-Health Informatics; MSN-Health Care Quality and Patient Safety; MSN-Leadership in Health Care Systems; MSN-Public Health Nursing

2.3: Develop leadership skills to collaborate on interprofessional teams in the provision of evidence-based, patient-centered care.

5.2: Apply professional, ethical, and regulatory standards of practice in the provision of safe, effective health care.