Patient Care Comes First

The biggest impediment to health IT adoption is technology that does not fit into workflow. Unfamiliarity with using technology is another major factor, followed by limited user support during implementation and lack of nursing involvement in planning and technology selection.

Clinicians recognize that workflow can be improved through the use of technology in a number of areas including care delivery and coordination, documentation, medication administration, and communication. However, for valid reasons, they are skeptical of change.

Clinicians must be convinced of the benefits and trust the organization or EHR champion driving the change. Health IT systems are not IT projects; they are clinical care projects, which means that patient care drives the IT process, rather than care having to adapt to the IT solution.

Clinicians at the Center

However, EHR systems can be the catalyst that encourages clinicians to rethink workflow. With workflow redesign, clinicians can attain outcomes that are advantageous for patients and offer a return on the health IT investment: improved patient safety, enhanced quality of collected patient data, greater workflow efficiency, and improved distribution of tasks.

Because clinicians’ first priority is patient care, they must be confident that their requirements are clearly understood. They need to have a say regarding the hardware and applications that are selected and implemented in their facility.

At the majority of healthcare organizations, nurses are involved in determining how technology should be integrated into the nursing workflow. Along with high levels of participation in the product selection process, it’s important to address any issues related to IT and workflow, as well as clinicians’ lack of familiarity with technology, for a healthy IT implementation.