| This past year, I've attempted to take the | | | | he's used and examples of the types of tasks |
| readers of these articles along with us as the | | | | performed in the application. A staff person's |
| practice transitions from paper record-keeping to | | | | competency can also be determined through the |
| electronic medical records, or EMR. Colleagues | | | | vocabulary that they are familiar with. |
| have contacted me, inquiring about why the | | | | Bring the Staff up to the Needed Skill Level: |
| process is so long and involved. Some articles | | | | While planning to implement an EMR or EPM |
| written about EMR projects describe projects | | | | system with a graphical interface, obviously all |
| which take around three to four months to | | | | your staff members will need some computer |
| complete. | | | | skills such as drag-and-drop and understanding |
| Maybe for a technically-inclined practice which | | | | how computer files are saved. Specific required |
| already uses a basic EMR system from just one | | | | tasks will be different depending on the employee |
| location this is possible. | | | | job description. As an example, the majority of |
| Still, I hope I have been clear that for the | | | | your employees will have to understand how to |
| majority of practices there is much more to the | | | | use the EPM system to make or look up |
| process than a simple installation of software and | | | | appointment info. Some staff will require the ability |
| training staff to use it. | | | | to check patients in and out, and others still will |
| The change over to EMR is a huge shift of the | | | | need to generate claims or post money. The |
| culture at a practice - and addressing this issue in | | | | technical staff may not have to know the claims |
| particular can make or break the success of a | | | | process, but certainly will need to be proficient in |
| project of significant magnitude and cost. | | | | the EMR process. |
| We last covered the breakdown of the work | | | | Design a Plan to Train for the New Software: |
| structure for our EMR implementation strategy. | | | | The electronic medical records committee must |
| This time we'll discuss the staff training process. | | | | design a training plan which takes the factors |
| Electronic medical records (EMR) training can be | | | | above into consideration. The committee will have |
| completed in three steps: | | | | to determine what the common tasks for every |
| Identify the Current Skill Level: | | | | employee will be, then adding additional skills of |
| Although today most young people are familiar | | | | increased complexity to the appropriate |
| with computers, the Internet, and PDAs, a large | | | | departments and jobs. |
| amount of adults have limited exposure to these | | | | The entire staff roster should be taught the |
| technologies. Luckily, most physicians have to | | | | system basics. Next, the department should |
| keep up with technological progress by necessity, | | | | rotate through the training room to receive |
| and most likely use computers regularly. Still, | | | | training on the necessary tasks for their particular |
| many of the other staff may have only limited | | | | jobs. A manual was prepared for the EPM |
| experience with using computers at work and | | | | software module, and another is being written for |
| limited skills as a result. | | | | the EMR module. Improvements will be made to |
| To determine a staff person's computer | | | | this training manual throughout the training |
| proficiency, he may be asked which programs | | | | process. |