Relevant Stakeholders Related to Impact Analysis
Hospital leaders play an essential role in the management of electronic health record (EHR) systems at Vila Health. Their responsibilities include operations management, the oversee of direct business services, the maintenance of medical records, as well as general leadership efforts associated with CEO and COO positions. In addition, managers that operate in the clinical services field represent another group of stakeholders to consider when it comes to the EHR program.
They include lab and pharmacy managers, chief medical officers, and individuals responsible for the management of diagnostic services. This group of stakeholders is of the highest importance among all because they are the ones to manage the work of nursing personnel who work with EHR systems regularly. The third group of stakeholders to be included in the assessment consists of registered nurses, lab technicians, emergency department nurses, and ICU personnel. Their role is essential to the project because of their regular interactions with patients and the need to use their health records for increasing care quality and reaching the desired health outcomes.
Process Used to Arrive at Recommendations
The regular assessment of effectiveness in care provision and the management of patient records represents the critical process involved in making recommendations to health systems management. Gaps in the collection, storage, management, and transmission of electronic patient data should serve as reminders to health providers that new measures should be implemented (O’Leary, Tanghe, Pratt, & Ralsron, 2018). There is a gap in the knowledge as to how should organizations integrate EHR into their regular processes as most organizations struggle with optimizing the workflow when the new system has been put in place. Also, the perceptions of nurses regarding the integration of the EHR can differ significantly as the process itself is unfamiliar, challenging, and tasking.
Missing and unclear information associated with the mentioned four aspects of data management should be the focus of EHR improvement at facilities because Recommendations related to the integration of up-to-date and effective EHRs may extend to informed research, changes in policy-making, and decision-making, as well as patient data assurance. Thus, the first step in the process is regular assessments, the second step is the identification of gaps, and the third step is the formulation of recommendations.
Timeline for Implementing Recommendations
With the identification of the process used to arrive at recommendations related to health information management systems, it is essential to develop a timeline for the implementation of desired processes. In general, twelve months can be a suitable period of time to integrate relevant changes at Vila Health. In the first several months, it is recommended to get support from hospital leadership, submit a proposal for EHR system implementation, create a shortlist of information technology providers, implement training and provisioning, as well as assess existing project managing procedures (Ghazisaeidi, Ahmadi, Sadoughi, & Safdari, 2014).
In the next three to seven months, the facility should appoint a project team responsible for EHR changes and define their roles and responsibilities. Within this period, it is also necessary to develop a set of workflows for automating documentation and the manual entry of information. Challenges associated with resources, training, and logistics will be implemented at this stage. The management of the organization should invest in additional technologies to ensure that person has the available resources. A specific challenge relates to training for the change within a short timeframe.
As mentioned by Ghazisaeidi et al. (2014), the education of personnel should be concise and targeted at specific issues within the project. Particular issues to address will include the familiarizing of nurses with the system, educating them on how to integrate the EHR into the workflow, as well as learning to use the data in the system for patient management. The logistics of integrating the system will also be a challenge that can be addressed through the gradual integration of the EHR within departments. Considerations of both direct and indirect costs of the system’s implementation should also be enacted as there is a possibility that health providers would be less effective during the learning curve period (Tolsgaard et al., 2015).
In the next months, Vila Health should plan procedures for transferring patient information to electronic systems and revise databases. Prior to the system implementation, it is also necessary to define data elements and templates, create a list of key disadvantages and essential features for valid billing and patient encounters (Ozair, Jamshed, Sharma, & Aggarwal, 2015).
Impact of Recommendations on Stakeholders
When connecting the recommendations with relevant stakeholders, fundamental changes occur in such aspects as training, resource allocation, patient outcomes, and workflow changes. For example, the third group of stakeholders that includes registered nurses, emergency department personnel, and ICU staff should get training in how to use the updated electronic health record systems because of the need to deal with them directly and regularly when managing patient data. Workflows will inevitably change, which means that practitioners will have to adjust to fluctuations in patient scheduling, checking in and out, conducting exams, and renewing medications.
Hospital managers who oversee the operations of nurses and other healthcare personnel will be influenced by EHR implementation in terms of workflow changes and the monitoring of patient outcomes. This means that managers should make shifts in the healthcare workflow to ensure that their subordinates follow the desired standards of quality. The measurement of patient outcomes as related to the integration of EHRs into the operations of a hospital represents an important challenge for managers due to the high demand to ensure that the solutions benefit patients. For chief officers, resource allocation is the key outcome of electronic record integration.
Analysis of Best Practices to Overcoming Barriers
The third group of stakeholders, which included nurses, ICU staff, and emergency department personnel showed the most opposition to the project. This opposition was explained by the fact that they did not have enough time and educational resources to be effective EHR users. Communication issues can also be significant contributors to the opposition of healthcare providers because the use of electronic records can undermine the quality of interactions between them and other clinical staff, such as pharmacists and doctors. To address this barrier and achieving buy-in, the integration of the system must take nurses’ needs into account. The most effective way of doing so is implementing a survey that will determine what nurses expect from the EHR as well as what additional features are necessary to ensure effective communication.
The first two stakeholder groups see the EHR integration as a positive change within the organization because of the need to optimize processes and ensure that the system benefits care provision long-term. These stakeholders want the project to succeed as it is directly associated with increased efficiency and cost reduction. To address barriers in policy implementation and achieve stakeholder buy-in, it is recommended to assess the key causes of challenges and develop targeted strategies to address gaps through collaboration (Health Policy Project, 2014). This means that barriers should be consistently assessed and addressed. Such aspects as motivation, the flow of information, and the balance of power and resources among stakeholders will ensure the success of the policy implementation.
Value Statements for Relevant Stakeholders
When considering value statements for relevant stakeholder groups, it is essential to note that every stakeholder contributes to the change differently (see Appendix). For example, the chief personnel that includes the CEO, COO, and the Operations Manager will deliver value to the project by overseeing the operations of all hospital personnel, allocating resources to support the policy change, as well as hire relevant professionals to strengthen the implementation of the project.
Also, they will make decisions regarding the financial support of the project. This point will have a direct impact on whether the EHR system would benefit patients and make the healthcare organization profitable as a result of positive technological changes. The higher management will solve a wide range of problems arising during the project implementation to meet and address the challenges that would limit the success of the EHR on both long- and short-term basis (Hovenga & Grain, 2016).
The second group of stakeholders will manage personnel and ensure that there are enough resources and training available to them when making changes in EHR integration. In addition, managers will bring value by means of strengthening the connections between employees through facilitating teamwork among them with the primary aim of serving patients and processing their data effectively. The last group of stakeholders, which is expected to work directly with EHR systems, will add value to the project by ensuring the higher quality of care for patients and the consistent integration of electronic systems into everyday operations. In addition, the staff will strengthen the connections with patients to ensure high levels of satisfaction.
Conclusion
To summarize the current exploration of stakeholder roles when implementing EHR systems at a healthcare facility, it is essential to mention that the project requires contributions from multiple professionals in the field. The collaboration between departments is vital to ensure the integration of the system across various levels of a healthcare organization as well as the elimination of identified barriers. Patient outcomes are expected to increase after the improvement of the EHR system at the hospital because its use is directly related to providing high-quality care to patients.
References
Ghazisaeidi, M., Ahmadi, M., Sadoughi, F., & Safdari, R. (2014). A roadmap to pre-implementation of electronic health record: The key step to success. Acta Informatica Medica: AIM: Journal of the Society for Medical Informatics of Bosnia & Herzegovina, 22(2), 133-138.
Health Policy Project. (2014). Implementation barriers. Web.
Hovenga, E., & Grain, H. (2016). Learning, training and teaching of health Informatics and its evidence for informaticians and clinical practice. Evidence-Based Health Informatics, 222, 336-354.
O’Leary, K., Tanghe, D., Pratt, W., & Ralston, J. (2018). Collaborative health reminders and notifications: Insights from prototypes. AMIA Symposium, 2018, 837-846.
Ozair, F. F., Jamshed, N., Sharma, A., & Aggarwal, P. (2015). Ethical issues in electronic health records: A general overview. Perspectives in Clinical Research, 6(2), 73-76.
Tolsgaard, M. G., Tabor, A., Madsen, M. E., Wulff, C. B., Dyre, L., Ringsted, C., & Nørgaard, L. N. (2015). Linking quality of care and training costs: cost-effectiveness in health professions education. Medical education, 49(12), 1263-1271.