Difference between revisions of "EMR Training"

Revision as of 01:59, 30 December 2005

Training clinicians to effectively utilize all the features of a state of the art EMR is difficult. Various methods have been tried including: classroom sessions, computer-based training modules, one-on-one training etc. To date there is no clear cut best solution to this problem. Many believe that requiring physicians to take classes outside of their usual clinical care sites is a losing proposition. They simply are not willing to take the time. More importantly, however, they tend not to retain classroom training or understand the significance of what they are taught until they have a chance to try it out.

What works best is focused training at the time of go-live, by having a trainer/support person in the clinic, available for immediate one-to-one assistance as physicians start to work with the system. This can be preceded by a brief orientation by the training staff, preferably at a meeting that the physicians already plan to attend (e.g. a weekly staff meeting).

The other component of a successful training strategy is to cultivate "super users" in each clinical site; clinical staff who are experts at using the system and can help their colleagues in an ongoing way. After physicians learn the basics, the super users can then show them more advanced techniques ("tips, tricks, etc").

The following snipet, is an example of how another organization addressed this problem:

"We have one RN FTE dedicated to training all staff including the MD's for all of our clinical applications. She also makes changes in the software templates. The training time varies depending on the workflow of the end user. We have a one hour one on one training class for the MD to give overview of software. When the MD goes "live", the clinical applications educator works along side of the MD while documenting the patient information into the system for 1-3 days depending on the comfort level of the MD to go "solo". The MD's like to learn the application in a "live" enviroment with the educator at their side!! We also train a "super-user" clinician for each department/ pod. Our practice has about 300 employees and 27 Cardiologist.