The Institute of Medicine (IOM) released a summary report of the public forum on the Initiative on the Future of Nursing, which was held in October 2009. IOM and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation are collaborating on the three public forums regarding this initiative. There were a number of takeaways.
The issue that pertains to technology, and EMRs and EHRs in particular, is that high-quality acute-care facilities need highly effective integrated IT systems to increase nurse efficiency and enable nurses to spend more time with their patients. There has been criticism of technology being the fifth wheel in the patient-provider relationship, and that's fair. If you're spending more time keying things into the EMR system than talking with your patient, technology is becoming part of the problem.
One hopes, however, that this is part of the learning curve. Once nurses integrate technology into their workflow, they should have more time freed either to spend with their patients or see even more patients. If this isn't happening, something is wrong with the process or implementation. Either the education and training are flawed or, if there are many nurses who are having difficulty with the transition from paper to digital records, the IT system may not be ideal for that hospital. Alternately, it may mean the IT system needs customization.
If you don't want adoption problems happening late in the game, hospital decision makers need to involve the front-line users of the EMRs and EHRs in the selection and demonstration processes. Their feedback is critical to user adoption. If you empower your users, they will own the IT systems and they'll make it work. But you have to pave the way in order to achieve user adoption and satisfaction.
Patty Enrado blogs daily at EHRWatch.com.
