February 22, 2023
Electronic health records for nurses contain structured information about patient health conditions, medical procedures, prescribed medications, and other essential health actions from the nursing staff.
Today nurses’ workload is heavier than ever, so they need a new tool to maximize their efficiency while lowering the risk of burnout. Implementing specialized EHRs helps nurses access vital patient data quickly to make better clinical decisions, ensure patient safety, and enhance health outcomes.
of citizens aged 65+ will need long-term care at some point
Zippia, 2022
of nursing facilities reported using an EHR
JAMDA, 2020
of nurses report high levels of EHR satisfaction
KLAS, 2019
The feature set of EHR software for nursing care facilities slightly differs from that of general practitioners because most patients have chronic conditions that have to be monitored by medical personnel over long periods.
Our team is here to help
Integrating an EHR for nurses with your organization’s software or third-party applications enables safer and faster data transfer, optimizes workflows, and improves patient outcomes.
Connect EHR to patient portals and empower your patients to become active participants in their health. The integration enables them to view and manage their electronic medical records and care plan, and understand their condition better.
Reduce test waiting time, avoid man-made errors, and make more accurate diagnostic and clinical decisions with the data flow between a laboratory information system and EHR.
Enhance clinicians' productivity by synchronizing patients’ details into task and resource management systems.
Ensure the security and transparency of financial relationships with patients by enabling only authorized healthcare professionals and patients themselves to view and manage their insurance details or care plan payments.
Understand patients’ conditions better, discover their underlying causes and risks, and improve care quality with beneficial treatment course suggestions by supplying medical analytics with accurate and relevant data from nursing EHR.
Monitor patients’ real-time health parameters 24/7 and share this data with personnel by connecting nursing EHR to medical IoT devices. Alert patients, nurses, and physicians about changes in patients' condition patterns.
Simplify medication plan fulfillment, reduce human errors in prescriptions, and speed up order placement by facilitating data transfer between your EHR and a pharmacy.
Our experts recommend considering the following aspects when choosing EHR software for nurses.
On-premise systems are more customizable and secure and work well in areas with poor internet connection. They, however, cannot be accessed from outside the facility, are trickier to back up, and not as interoperable as cloud-based solutions. The latter are more flexible, can be accessed from anywhere in the world, and their maintenance and backups are the vendor's responsibility. Their drawbacks include obligatory good internet connection and the introduction of strict data government policy at the facility.
In order to receive the Meaningful Use reimbursement and protect patient data, opt for systems that are developed according to privacy and security regulations, standards, and protocols for health information technology: HIPAA, GDPR, OWASP, FHIR, FDA, etc.
Make sure the EHR or EMR of your choice covers your organization’s requirements. For this, consult with clinicians and nurse practitioners to learn their EHR expectations and needs. Yet, do not pick “the more the better” approach, as an overly feature-rich system will cost you a lot more and pose a greater risk of burnout to the staff.
The amount of patient data grows exponentially every year, new technologies are being developed and adopted in health IT, and government regulations are updated accordingly. Check with your vendor to make sure they regularly update and expand their EHR system.
Major workflow disruptions due to system downtime and the disappearance of patient information remain one of the top concerns for nurses. Make sure that your EHR solution has backup options, is sufficiently supported by the vendor, and its capabilities fit your recovery time objective.
Our experienced team takes on EHR implementation projects of any complexity, offering consultation, development, data migration, system modernization, and support services.
Discovery
We work closely with nursing staff and management to discover EHR requirements and define its tech stack.
Development
We map out the project, set its timeline, and develop a solution compliant with industry standards and privacy regulations.
We integrate the EHR with your other healthcare software or third-party applications.
We conduct quality assurance and test runs throughout the development process.
Deployment
We integrate the nursing EHR into the facility’s IT ecosystem and migrate relevant data.
Post-deployment
We provide software performance monitoring, improvements, updates, and different levels of support during the use of EHR.
MatrixCare solutions showed an 88.3% satisfaction rate among users, according to the 2021 KLAS Performance Report. The company offers a variety of solutions for all types of care organizations: nursing homes, hospices, hospitals, and home care professionals.
Charting is done electronically as care is given, so staff can spend more time with patients providing the care they need and deserve [thanks to the MaxtrixCare solution].
Julie Chartreau
IS Director, Bradford Ecumenical Home
While valuable to nurses in the first place, EHR also brings advantages to care providers, patients, and long-term care organizations.
Chart title: Positive changes in nursing teams after EHR implementation
Data source: ScienceDirect
Most nursing homes and hospitals have seen the impact of electronic health records starting with increased efficiency. Nurses can spend less time on sifting through documentation during their shifts and have more time and energy left for patient-related tasks and training. Additionally, as EHRs facilitate information exchange, their adoption can improve care coordination between departments.
Electronic health records provide nursing home staff with timely and accurate patient information, which allows for more accurate decision making and personalized care delivery. Document management automation also enables nurses to spend more time tending to patients’ needs, while EHRs’ analytical capabilities help predict possible condition changes and make more data-based clinical decisions.
EHR implementation in nursing homes and long-term care facilities helps identify and eliminate inefficient procedures for patients, like excessive lab tests or medical imaging, and better distribute facilities’ spaces, like grouping beds according to patients’ conditions.
Medical errors can have devastating repercussions for post-acute care facilities: damaged reputation, thousands of dollars in lawsuit losses, or even a revoked license. According to two nationwide studies, 37% of nurses believe that EHRs help to prevent medication errors. Additionally, this type of nursing home software eliminates duplicates in documentation and enhances the accuracy of input information.
Despite the proven benefits of electronic health records, some nurses are still reluctant to use them. Let’s take a look at the most significant challenges of EHR implementation and how to solve them.
Challenge
User burnout due to cognitive overload
Challenge
Possible solution
Nurses reported significantly reduced burnout levels after optimizing the data entry interface. Therefore, the EHR system should be tuned to the specific healthcare environment to avoid overburdening nurses with information they don’t need.
Challenge
Gaps in care during system downtime
Challenge
Possible solution
Any medical organization reliant on EHRs and other healthcare software needs an actionable emergency strategy in case of system downtime (e.g., during a blackout or lost internet connection). It may include backups, remote access from mobile devices, and sufficient personnel emergency training.
Challenge
Lack of required functionality
Challenge
Possible solution
Nurses’ opinions should be taken into account during the earliest stages of EHR adoption. It’s essential to implement the system functionally most aligned with the facility’s operations. Most EHRs for nurses can be further tuned and modified to more specific requirements by experienced developers.
More than 90% of nurses reported burnout after the COVID pandemic, which led to nationwide nursing personnel shortages. Still, healthcare organizations of all specialties and sizes cannot afford to lose their nurses due to overload with administrative tasks, stress over incoherent patient information, and frustration with unoptimized workflows. Our team is ready to help hospitals and long-term care facilities implement EHR solutions to boost their nurses’ productivity and well-being through the automation of routine document management tasks, patient management facilitation, and data-sharing across organizations. Whether you need help to choose and implement a new system, modernize legacy software, or migrate patient data from one system to another – don’t hesitate to contact us.
We gathered questions most healthcare providers ask at the beginning of their EHR implementation journey.