At the onset of enticing the physician owners to buy-in to the concept of Electronic Medical Records, the administrative team did their initial homework. They had several physician owners on the committee to investigate the options. We had a meeting where the selected vendors presented their 'product'. Unfortunately the concept was like a foreign language in 2003. I personally had minimal experience with EMR so anything seemed plausible.
Once the EMR was selected (NEXTGEN) the administration developed a strategy for implementing. Since the physician at my clinic was one of the more "technology-savvy" our clinic got to launch the program. Immediately there were so many clinical errors that the providers became quite frustrated. Everything from spelling to organizing templates.....it had not been scrutinized by a INS....
Having utilized the Informatics Center at the College of Nursing, I suggested to the administrator that they needed to add an informatics nurse specialist to help the "nerds" apply the clinical process. Unfortunately, and to the tune of lots of $$$$$$$ they choose the 'nerds' over the 'nurse'.
I feel very strongly that a informatics nurse specialist should be involved with EMR in most settings. The clinic had the other members IE. from coders to department managers but the error in thinking is that physicians understand the process of clinical care..... this is to the detriment of patient care. I wish that I had been more vocal in this suggestion. And, now that I am learning more about the selection process I realize that I could of recommended that I be a part of the committee.
Evaluations are ongoing. NEXTGEN is always updating and every time they "improve" we have to update and that means $$$$$.
Bottom line: A informatics nurse specialist would of saved our clinic time and money.
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