Workforce

Update: HIMSS20 has been canceled due to the coronavirus. Read more here. As part of the merger of five independent orthopedic practices to form Virginia’s largest provider of orthopedic and therapy care, OrthoVirginia, a large investment was made implementing a new electronic health record system. A survey gauging physician satisfaction with the system, however, showed an overall poor experience, which led the CIO and CMIO to work together to implement and show measurable improvements across a range of areas, including more efficient usage of the technology. Among the most important decision made was to use provider satisfaction measurement tools, to better understand the most impactful EHR related elements that drive provider satisfaction. A structured onboarding process, including an explanation of the organization’s culture, also helps sets expectations for what will be required of the provider to achieve EHR mastery. "The lack of a clear articulation to the providers about what the EHR can be is a significant and ubiquitous problem," said Dr. Harry C Eschenroeder Jr., CMIO of OrthoVirginia, who is scheduled to address the topic March 12 at HIMSS20 with co-presenter and OrthoVirginia CIO Terri Ripley. He explained there is confusion about what parts of the workflows are driven by compliance requirements and what parts of the EHR can be helpful. "Workflows driven by compliance often frustrate providers and may add little value to patient care," he cautioned. "A well designed EHR can orient the physician to the patient’s situation, teach the patient what is wrong with them, and what they must do to get better." He further noted it can also facilitate communication and coordination of care amongst the providers trying to help the patient. "Providers must understand that they bear a responsibility to master and improve their imperfect EHR for the benefit of their patients," he said. "They need to experience some wins in making their EHR better." Eschenroeder said some methodologies that can be used to successfully implement a continuous education program for physicians include offering “at the elbow” provider education and provider problem resolution based on a personal relationship between the provider and a provider support specialist. "In addition, EHR educational presentations at department meetings can help providers to understand that the EHR is not a dead tool, it is evolving, and their input is critical," he said. Additional methodologies could involve peer to peer teaching and support interactions in provider meetings, and teaching themes for the provider support specialists, so that rounding is more than answering complaints and solving problems. Eschenroeder and his OrthoVirginia colleague Terri Ripley will share their insights during their HIMSS20 session, “Physician Satisfaction with EHR: Is it Possible to Improve?” It's scheduled for Thursday, March 12, from 2:30-3:30 p.m. in room W206A.

Dr. Ahmed Safwat Mitwalli Elassal, board member with the Egyptian General Authority of Healthcare, says Egypt is well-placed to deploy best practice technology solutions across Africa.

Pete Rose, currently director of enterprise services and deputy chief digital, data and technology officer at the Home Office, has also been named as the new deputy CEO of the organisation.

ANCILE Solutions’ training technology, uPerform, helps organisations with the deployment and optimisation of software systems.

800 of Dr. Scott Jensen’s patients have thus far opted for virtual visits in rural Arizona. The telehealth tech has an easy ROI, he says, and boosts patient satisfaction.

Reducing clinician burnout is a major area of focus for EMRAM Stage 7 hospital St Jansdal in the Netherlands, as the drive to continually improve remains on the agenda, says Chief Pharmacy Informatics Officer Pieter Helmons.

Diversity and inclusion seem to be at the forefront of discussions in all workplaces, but is anything changing? In this blog, former NHSX director Sam Shah, writes about his experience.

Kluge will be succeeding Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, now deputy director-general of the WHO. 

The co-founder of the EHR maker explains why these trends are key to CIOs and other healthcare leaders, and digs into SMART on FHIR.

The Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) today announced the launch of a new professional development program to identify the necessary digital health capabilities for nurses and midwives to further improve the quality, safety and efficiency of care. Nurses and midwives across Australia will now be consulted on the specific digital health skills they need, what is practical and relevant for them and how a draft digital health capability framework could be used in hospitals and health services as a professional development guide for nursing and midwifery in the digital world. Consultation will start on 3 of February 2020 and will run for six weeks. Nurses and midwives are encouraged to provide their feedback by completing a survey or attending feedback sessions through information available on the Health Informatics Society of Australia (HISA) website. The professional development program is being undertaken by HISA in collaboration with the ADHA as part of the National Digital Health Strategy’s commitment to building health workforce capability in digital health.  Once consultation is complete, the final capability framework and resources would be launched at the Nursing Informatics global congress NI 2020 in Brisbane, on 27 – 29 July 2020. WHY IT MATTERS The 2020 focus on nursing and midwifery in the digital age coincides with the World Health Organization’s International Year of the Nurse and Midwife. Critically, it is also important to ensure that the voices of nurses and midwives are heard when looking at the implementation of technology in healthcare organizations.  In an interview with HealthcareITNews last September, Katie Trott, chief nursing information officer at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust said, “Often, there’s an emphasis on doctors, however, the nursing workforce is often much greater than the medical workforce. And so making sure that they’ve got full representation of that is really important, particularly as we have nurses taking on more and more extended roles where they’re seeing patients autonomously.” ON THE RECORD “In the emerging field of digital health, nurses and midwives are at the forefront, combining knowledge, data, and technology to produce best possible outcomes for patients.” “In this new program, nursing and midwifery organizations will be collaborating to create the first national framework to support nurses and midwives in an increasingly digital workplace, with all the challenges and opportunities that provides,” said HISA CEO Dr Louise Schaper in a statement. Angela Ryan, the Agency’s Chief Clinical Information Officer and a Registered Nurse, said: “Nurses and midwives are once again ensuring that they are at the center of their educational and professional development so that they can deliver the best care possible.” “This program will identify the specific skills nurses and midwives need for them to maximize the benefits for their patients from Australia’s digital health system.”