Using Integrations to Speed Up EHR Workflow Optimization

Learn how customizing your EHR with different software and tool integrations could help combat staff burnout and improve patient outcomes.

According to a recent study published in the Journal of Informatics in Health and Biomedicine, clinicians who had to use EHRs after hours due to difficulties in taking notes on the software had nearly 5 times greater odds of experiencing high exhaustion on the job.

Unfortunately, this isn’t grounds enough to do away with EHRs as a whole. They simply provide too much benefit as opposed to the alternative of pen and paper. Although that may be the case, that doesn’t mean EHR workflow optimization can’t be sought after.

What Does EHR Workflow Optimization Look Like?

Today, as telehealth applications and massive restructuring of how patients are cared for abound, several facilities have begun embracing EHR customization in order to optimize their workflows. For the most part, this EHR customization has been predominantly achieved through third party solutions that improve usability.

This comes in staunch opposition to how many other facilities have chosen to “optimize” their EHR workflows” by simply ripping out their current EHRs and installing a new one in hopes of finding a better alternative. Replacing EHRs entirely is much more costly, making this process of throwing EHR providers at a wall until one sticks incredibly un-viable both financially and logically.

Telehealth Integrations

Like we previously mentioned, telehealth is booming as the recent need for bolstered infection control in hospitals has accelerated its adoption. A very recent EHR-embedded telehealth tool by Athenahealth, for example, embeds perfectly into many popularly used EHR programs and provides a myriad of quality of life features such as the ability to start a facetime call with patients by simply clicking a button on their health record.

Many times, burnout isn’t a result of the EHR breaking down, it’s a result of the excessive time it takes to juggle note-taking and speaking to a patient and giving them full attention. Telehealth integrations such as Athenahealth’s are one example of how an added EHR customization can cut down on these two pain points.

Touchscreen Integration

Touchscreen integration into the average physician’s workflow has also been proven to improve efficiency in care and patient record keeping.

Studies have also illustrated this fact, one by Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories in particular explaining that their use improves response time by as much as 20%. Investing in medical grade tablets with touch screen capabilities as portable workstations can empower clinicians with a touch-based solution to the perils of navigating several screens on a cluttered monitor with mouse and keyboard.

Data Mapping Solutions

As far as interoperability is concerned in EHR use, one of the greatest roadblocks to proper collaboration, is the use of different terminology used to describe the same ailment, symptom, or treatment.

Data Mapping is the process of cross-referencing different terminologies used by disparate care providers. Using data mapping solutions, records shared by a certain facility can be scanned for terminologies not in your system, but understood to be equivalent to other teams that are used by your system and swapped out. Data mapping tools, if implemented into an EHR effectively, and if comprehensive enough, can cut down immensely on healthcare burnout by eliminating the need to scan and understand patient records.

Finding EHR Workflow Optimizations Tailored to Your Practice

While several effective EHR workflow optimization techniques are out there, it’s not as simple as just implementing every single solution you find. The most effective adopters of these solutions will be the ones who communicate with their teams and learn what optimizations work best to meet pain points across their staff. For more information on EHR workflow optimization solutions, contact an expert from Cybernet today.