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The Action Plan: Implementing Electronic Health Records (EHRS)

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Technology has been the driving power to improve operations in different sectors, such

as manufacturing and banking. Additionally, Innovative technologies play a significant role in

improving the efficiency of care providers. However, the transition of the filling system from

manual-based to digital-based medical systems. The Medical-record system has been

transformative to the Organization's efficiency on medical record and retrieval Gopal & Haran

(2019). The management has evaluated the need for replacing the EMRs systems with EHRs

systems to address the statics nature of EMRs. As the Organization has ten healthcare facilities in

different locations, with every facility operating on its EMRs, there is a great challenge on

collaboration among the organizations' nurses and physicians in different locations regarding

data sharing, data availability, and redundancy data available. In addition, operating on different

EMRs by the facilities is more costly than equipment and maintenances. Therefore informatics

department, and consultation from various stakeholders, the Organization has decided to design

and implement EHRs system, connecting all its branch facilities and connecting with other

external care providers.

Implementing the EHRs is a multi-step that would impact every organization member

and cost $ 2 million and six month period of implementation. Therefore the action plan for its

implementation has been planned and availed to every department with precise requirements and

specific objectives. The team, which involves members from the different departments from

different facilities with collaboration, will oversee the implementation of the system. The team

comprises nurses, physicians, medical assistance, the Human resources department, the finance

department, and the informatics department. The team has already implemented the following

prerequisites; selections and definition of the super lead users, lead physician. The project

manager is the head of the IT department, the main point of contact with the EHR vendor and
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Organization (Gopal et al., 2019). The project manager is also responsible for ensuring that the

project is implemented within the planned timeframe and tracking every task's progress while

addressing issues that are likely to arise during the implementation.

Preparation of the software and Hardware requirement

The project manager and the team will evaluate all the security measures and ensure

compliance with relevant authority' requirements such as the HIPPA (Gopal et al., 2019).

Changing from EMRs to EHRs comes with upgrading the existing Hardware and additions other

such as servers, routers, switches, and networking equipment. The team plans to upgrade the

current computer hardware to ensure that every user can efficiently access the system.

The patient treatment room layout

According to Chirchir et al. (2021), the room layout substantially impacts patient

engagement and satisfaction. As the EHRs program requires data entry, the staff and doctors'

position while capturing the patient data is of great significance. Gopal & Haran (2019) suggest

applying a "triangle of trust" configuration layout where the physician, patient, and the computer

form a virtual triangle, allowing the physician and the patient to see each other.

Transfer of Data

Once the EHRs software and Hardware are already in place, the next step for the team is

implementing the data transfer mean. Migrating data from the EMRs systems from all the ten

facilities to the centralized EHR database. The process is expected to take more time as there are

terabytes of data to be synchronized, requiring more care to ensure all the critical data are

smoothly transferred to the EHRs system (Gopal et al., 2019). The approximate time for the

process is ten weeks.

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Maintenance Protocols and Preparedness

According to Gopal & Haran (2019), various technological glitches are likely to

implement a new management system. The effective ways to handle glitches are through

observations and clear documentation of the challenges and the measures to be taken in the

future. In addition, brainstorming among the project team on handling potential problems to the

system, such as the power-back-up plans, protocols to be followed whenever the system

malfunctions.

Training Program and Launching Process

When the whole system has been implemented, the project team, with the assistance of

the other IT members, would take a four-week training period for the users in different

departments. The training would cover the essential user functionality details of the newly

implemented system and ensure that the user requires knowledge and skills to use the new EHRs

system. The training is expected to last for three weeks, after which the new EHRs program

would be launched-. The system would be launched using the "Big Bang" approach to minimize

the time in the system adopting in daily activities of the organization staff (Chirchir et al., 2021).

The approach rolls out all the system functionality on the same day, where all the users will be

expected to apply the knowledge and skills acquired during the training. However, the IT

department and the project team will be overseeing the role to provide support to the users in

case of any challenge. After a successful implementation, the IT department will continue with

the user support and gather user feedback for future improvement.

The Organization Benefits

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The organization expects to achieve the following objectives after the changeover from

the digital-filling system to the management system.

i. Accurate, up-to-date, and complete patient data at the point of care.

ii. Enhanced security and privacy of the patient data

iii. Improved productivity and work-life balance among the staff.

iv. Improved provider-patient interaction and communication

v. Enhance collaboration on evidence-based strategies

vi. Reduce the medical errors and effectively diagnose patients

vii. Reduce the costs in operating different EMRs and enhance the quality of care

viii. Centralized and enhance the reimbursement process and integrating other essential health

care processes into the system.

Action Plan Table

Issue: Implementation of Electronic Health Record system

Outcome: Change of operation from File system to the management system
Stakeholders: internal and external stakeholders
Evidence of
Responsible Timeline
Strategic Success or
Party or Resources (Target Comments
Action Success
Department Date)
Criteria
Definition Project Project Six months Successful Proper project

of the manager and management implementation planning is a

project project team tools of the EHRs great step in

milestone drawn from system. ensuring the

and goals IT successful

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department implementation

and other of EHRs.

departments
Record IT EHMs system 10 weeks Accurate An essential

transfers department transfer of step to ensure

record from all the previous

EMRs to EHRs records are

accurately

transferred to

the new EHRs

system (Gopal

et al., 2019).
Training of The project User training Four Effective The clinical

users Team manual weeks application of expert, finance

EHRs in the department, and

daily activity of other staff in

the Users the

Organization

are the targeted

user for the new

system (Gopal

et al., 2019).
Maintain IT The Futuristic Availability The system

ace and department maintenance reliability and should be

future protocol and accessibility of secure and

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upgrade the future the system updated to the

system trend across the current EHRs

Organization standards

References

Gopal, D. G., & Haran, U. H. (2019). Safety measures for EHR systems. Security and Privacy of

Electronic Healthcare Records: Concepts, paradigms, and solutions, 249.

Chirchir, L. K., Aruasa, W. K., & Chebon, S. K. (2021). Change Process Factors Influencing

Electronic Health Records Adoption by Nurses at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital,

Kenya. Procedia Computer Science, 181, 427-433.

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Action Plan