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A U G U S T 2 0 1 4 | O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E
Bend, Ind., remembers
the facility's failed
attempt at trying to
hammer the square
peg of a hospital-spe-
cific EMR into the
round hole of her sur-
gery center's needs.
She was also a key
player when the cen-
ter's staff and leader-
ship worked with an EMR vendor to transition to a customized system
that fits their specific documentation requirements, including templates
for regularly run reports, user-friendly drop-down menus, physician-spe-
cific discharge directions, constantly updated medication lists and safety
checklists.
"Keeping the system current with frontline needs is an evolving
process that's made easier by the staff-driven adaptability of the inter-
face," says Ms. Sarasin. "The program is totally set up for our ASC.
The whole process has been great for all of us."
Drilling down
Electronic records collect large amounts of hard data so you can iden-
tify areas of needed improvement over time instead of taking action
based on assumptions and anecdotal evidence. For example, you can
drill down to the block utilization rates of surgical services or individ-
ual surgeons. EMRs let you recognize surgeons who are dragging
down the averages or outperforming their peers. "That information
was very hard to get before," says Dr. Foglia. "Now we can pull the
data with 3 or 4 mouse clicks."
E M R S
DATA ENTRY Scrub technician
Alicia Cotner, CST, inputs case
info that's used to make real
change at PCET Surgery Center.
Alana
Booth,
RN,
CASC
