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Have a rep from the EMR company or an in-house technical sup-
port pro conduct classroom-style training for physicians and staff.
Tailor the training to specific clinical roles and base it on real-
world clinical scenarios and your facility's actual workflow, says
Mike Minear, LVHN's chief information officer. He says training
should touch on how to input clinical orders for medications and
labs, complete clinical documentation, prepare accurate patients'
records for billing approval and remotely access clinical data.
Mr. Minear says you should test staff and surgeons at the end of
the training to ensure they understand how the EMR system works
and, after it's up and running, hold regular meetings with your team,
provide updates on new system features and offer additional educa-
tion as needed.
4. Rely on early adopters. Recognize that it will take several
months after the go-live date before every member of your staff
expertly clicks through the EMR. Surgeons, who might not use
the program as much as your staff, could take longer to complete
the learning curve. Ms. Alexander suggests identifying tech-savvy
staff members who catch on quicker than others and putting
them in charge of helping their colleagues throughout the transi-
tion and troubleshooting the inevitable glitches that occur.
Assign one of the experts to greet surgeons every morning and
walk them through the new electronic charting process. The sur-
geons will appreciate knowing there is a go-to person on site who
can help them.
"It's amazing how staff has offered suggestions about what
would make the EMR better," says Ms. Alexander. "The system
continues to evolve each year because they're more comfortable
and confident with it." — Mike Morsch
