In this post by guest blogger, Barbara Cannon, RN, you’ll understand how a “go–live” date for your EHR or other healthcare technology can simply be part of a smooth adoption process. Barbara is Senior Clinical Consultant at HITSG. If you have questions for her, please leave them in the comments.
There are two main schools of thought when it comes to preparing for a technology “go-live.” On one end of the spectrum is the “big bang” approach, which turns workflow on its head in a very short time period. On the opposite end of the spectrum is what many call the “rolling” or “phased” go-live. When it comes to the healthcare industry, my preference definitely is to embrace the latter approach.
Change is hard. That fact is well known. Expecting providers to function one way on Monday and completely change everything they are doing on Tuesday is very difficult and often grinds patient care to a halt. In the blog post titled “Adoption,” Dr. Ketchersid references an analogy of go-live being like a marriage. It is the ultimate one-day event everyone is planning for and leading up to. However, if implementation occurs gradually over a period of time, the go-live date becomes the last step in completing my workflow, not the first day I try to turn my workflow upside down.
Go-live is like the final, pivotal “date” in a well-structured courtship. You have gradually come to learn about each other and interact on various levels during the courtship. The marriage is just the final step in a long-term commitment.
Ironing out a logical process for phasing in technology is the most challenging piece of the puzzle. Staff can be a great asset during implementation. With a phased approach, staff can begin interacting with the system and gaining competence by entering data that will be essential to the provider. The next steps are to incorporate the providers into the workflow.
The easier tasks to start with are those that add value without adding a lot of extra time. My preference is to start with items such as reviewing labs or documentation, accessing records remotely and signing off on transcription or notes. Tasks that are the most unfamiliar, such as interacting with a template to document the encounter at point of care, are often saved for the final step in implementation. When done well, the go-live date can become a non-event.
I agree with Dr. Ketchersid, however, that the go-live event is just the beginning. It will be months down the road before many of the nuances in process and workflow are streamlined with technology and full adoption can be realized.
Where is your practice in the go-live process? What challenges are you encountering? We’d love to hear from you. Please share your experience by commenting here.
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