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Until now, we've been going over the elements of selecting and implementing electronic medical records, or EMR. This has included the process of selecting software, hardware, and infrastructure. Now it's time to integrate these disparate elements into the reality of a working EMR office. At our practice, the IT team did a great job of planning key tasks from the beginning. This included the wiring of our satellite offices. Our practice's requirements called for an integrated plan which meshes with the technical aspects of the project, also incorporating a training element to boost the staff to maximum productivity, while making the best use of everyone's time. Choice personnel from the IT, clerical, and admin departments met with Frank Polack of Evitor Consulting - our project management facilitator. Together, they created a WBS, or work-breakdown-structure, for project implementation. The primary processes to address included infrastructure, hardware selection, EMR configuration, setup, training plan, process review, rollout, and testing. These processes can be divided into smaller jobs to be delegated. The primary process is divided into specific issues such as, 'configuration' or 'templates,' for example. These issues are then sub-divided into particular tasks such as which templates to create, which templates to use, who reviews templates, and how they will be tested. For our EMR configuration, IT staff and physicians created a workgroup which looks at the clinical template set within the EMR application. The workgroup makes changes only as needed, as determined within the work flow in use at the practice. This method lets changes happen in a way that is noticeable when producing patient exams. This is particularly true for physicians who are technically-minded, who will naturally expect that that new system out-performs the one currently in use at the practice. There will be some required changes to the workflow, a necessity born from the hierarchy of the EMR design. As an example, if currently we're making dictations which look like '2+ NS and PSC,' we may have to instead write 'lens, NS 2+ PSC 2+.' This may seem like a small difference at first, but this could have a real effect on workflow when multiplied across hundreds of exam records daily. Configuration must arrive at a new method which doctors and staff are comfortable with. Another database test of an EMR system is available from home using remote desktop services. This is possible by any specified workgroup member. The group can conduct a final review before new changes are implemented on the working database. Again, the onus is placed upon the configuration, which must come up with another method to sync the way staff and physicians find comfort working with the EMR system. A separate database test of the EMR system is accessible from home, via remote desktop services, by any particular member of the work group.
By the way, do you want to learn more about implementing EMR in your own practice? Download my free report "Getting Through The EMR Maze."
Click here for the free EMR report
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