3. Efficient data entry
Cumbersome EMRs with too many screens to click through and too
much information to input will leave you wondering why your facility
did away with pen and paper. EMRs specifically designed for the go-
go-go pace of ambulatory surgery let you breeze through charting,
thanks to drop-down menus that eliminate having to repeatedly type
in the same information into the same empty field on a seemingly end-
less series of screens.
Continuity of charting is one of the biggest advantages of adding
EMRs, says Susan Alexander, MSN, RN, CPAN, CSSM, director of nurs-
ing at Reading (Pa.) Hospital SurgiCenter. The center's EMR is populat-
ed with a library of the joint implants the facility's surgeons use most
often. Nurses click on the implant pulled for a case and the product's
name and vendor is automatically added to the patient's electronic
record. The nurse is left to add only the implant's serial number and
expiration date instead of having to manually input all of the informa-
tion. The automated process is faster and potentially more accurate.
Staff at Aspen Surgery Center in Simi Valley, Calif., enter patients'
clinical information such as their medication allergies and medical
histories only once into the EMR, which automatically populates the
information throughout the electronic charts. Nurses and anesthesia
providers can access the patient's record in the OR without having to
waste time inputting what their colleagues had already entered.
It's a feature that lets staff and surgeons spend more time in front of
patients, not keyboards. "That's huge," says administrator Jeanine
Maurer, RN, MSN. "Gaining more time to spend with patients is one of
the most — if not the most — valuable benefits of adding EMRs."
The center's system won't let staff close a patient's record if a key
piece of data is missing. That means charting is done in real-time at
critical points of care and guaranteed to be completed when patients
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