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Technologically speaking: Plan well from the beginning

Staff Development Weekly: Insight on Evidence-Based Practice in Education, July 28, 2006

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Big hospitals with big IT budgets are at an advantage when it comes to changing to electronic health records (EHR). But their cash-strapped counterparts-small, rural hospitals and clinics-are forced to grapple with disproportionately high costs. Small hospitals operate on smaller budgets and struggle to get the functionality they need at a cost they can afford.

Even though money is a pain point at many small hospitals, smaller facilities enjoy certain benefits. For example, fewer staff means less bureaucracy.

One way to get the proverbial EHR ball rolling is to be specific in your goal setting. To find the project that's right for your hospital, take the time to examine your major pain points-clinical documentation, medication management, document imaging, computerized physician order entry, etc. Once you figure that out-but before you choose a product or make a decision-you need to

• establish goals to address the specific targeted pain points. Be specific about what you want from the technology. For example, do you want to reduce the number of pharmacy call-backs to doctors?
• find and research products that address the specific goal. Remember, this doesn't have to be a fully comprehensive EHR.

To learn more about the EHRs, go to Electronic Health Records Briefing (ERB). For the cost of just three stories, you can get the entire July issue of ERB. Click here to choose between the PDF and HTML versions for just $30. Subscribers to the online version of ERB have free access to this article. Subscribers to the print newsletter can find this article in their July issue.

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