While more than half of physicians have implemented digital records, many detest their system.  A recent Medscape survey revealed that as many as 28% of doctors using electronic health records confirmed that they hate their system but feel stuck with them. Transferring data from one system to another can be costly and due to different features or framework, may not be compatible to easily shift to other systems.

Author of Keys to EMR Success, Ron Sterling, an EMR expert from  Maryland was interviewed.  See what he has to say on the topic.

 The Decision Process

Selection of a specific EMR system may have been made through recommendations but they either did not actively acquaint themselves with the choice beforehand or have not been using it effectively. Rather, they appointed staff members to research availability and make a system choice for the healthcare provider or medical facility.

Disinterest in the selection is rife with problems.  The most obvious is that since there is no bond or knowledge with the system, the effectiveness of the office operations or how medicine is practiced will have a tremendous effect. The entire workflow will be altered.

Training

The amount of training and support that a vendor provides, will make a big difference in the satisfaction of a particular digital product.  Practice employees need to become IT experts in EHR usage but doctors must be able to use them seamlessly.  Understanding is important in order to evaluate patient data that has been entered.

Unfortunately, until a doctor is well-versed in the computer usage, the doctor’s attention will be on the computer screen more than the patient which creates separation and dissatisfaction on the part of patients as well as physicians.

In addition to poor product selection, there is often insufficient training time for physicians who have had to remove themselves from seeing patients for a specific time span.  Then too, mistakes entering the information can occur from not being familiar as well as the system itself not being familiar with a specialty.

Support and assessment

After selling the EHR to a practice or medical facility, some vendors become elusive and unresponsive to questions the practice may have.

Evaluate the system and determine if it is a problem of the program or of you- at which time, going for additional training would be wise.

 How to Evaluate Your EHR system

If you need help in how to evaluate your system or how to move forward, check out “EMR Guide: Choosing Without Losing”.

The book  can be obtained  at: www.thewritetreatment.com/estore.html

 It makes for valuable reading and bonuses come with your book if you get it now.