Healthcare organizations such as a skilled nursing facility (SNF) need to stay abreast of new technologies if their service delivery is to remain topnotch. A SNF is composed of diverse human resources with different career and cultural backgrounds. In such a facility, one is likely to find nurses, audiologists, nutritionists, speech pathologists, and physical and occupational therapists, among others. Collaboration for efficient service delivery is a critical requirement for a skilled nursing organization since the personnel working there are interdependent; hence, they require a seamless flow of information. One way that a skilled nursing facility can ease its service delivery is by integrating an electronic medical record (EMR) system to its operational model. An EMR system will drastically improve collaboration among the facilities staff with an increased potential to enhance patient care outcomes and personnel performance (Raddaha, 2017). Introducing an EMR system requires that the employees are given enough training so that they will fully utilize their capacities. Before training human resources, it is crucial to develop a plan that will take into consideration the diversity of the facilities. Before developing and actualizing the EMR training plan, it is crucial to identify teaching strategies, understand the EMR basics, and gain buy-ins from the relevant stakeholders.
Selected Clinical Setting
Skilled nursing facilities (SNF) are designed to provide additional rehabilitation after discharge from the hospital before returning home. The primary aim of a SNF is to advance post-acute care before a patient goes back to the community (Goodwin, Li, Middleton, Ottenbacher & Kuo, 2018). A SNF environment requires high-level collaboration among its staff to ensure that service delivery is synonymous with the organization's goals. Procuring and integrating an EMR system in the facility's operational model will provide the basis for information availability and sharing. From the EMR system, the personnel working in the SNF can gather, manage, and consult, thus expediting workflow and improving the quality of patient care and safety. With the diverseness that is expected in a SNF, an EMR system will also bring unity of purpose by alleviating barriers due to the different cultural backgrounds of the staff.
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Overall Plan
Introducing an EMR system to a SNF setup requires meticulous training of the employees with special considerations given to their professional and cultural backgrounds. Specialized training would fit the profile of an SNF environment where employees are placed in groups depending on their career backgrounds. It will then be then possible to take care of individual characteristics such as ethnicity, gender, and religion within the groups. Placing employees in these groupings is critical because it will be possible to ensure knowledge uniformity among members from the same group. After creating these groups, the next step will be communicating to the entire organization of the projected introduction of an EMR system and the expected training.
Before introducing the EMR system or conducting any training, it is important to notify all the departments of the expected changes. Agreeing with Vermeir et al. (2015), effective communication is critical in a health facility. Communication, in this case, will help in identifying and solving any emerging issues such as resistance among human resources. Both written and oral communication strategies will be used in informing the employees of the anticipated changes. A written memo copied to all departments will be the primary method of communication, which will be followed up by interdepartmental meetings. After the entire organization is aware of the EMR training details, the actual training will follow.
Training of the medical staff will be geared at achieving competency in the use of the EMR system. The training will assume a modular rapid learning system. The EMR system will be divided into modules where each will be extensively covered. For the training purposes, the EMR system will be hosted for learning purposes to avoid filling the database with unnecessary information. The modular system will have two-dimensional approaches (Hasske, Beil & Keller, 2017). First, the model will take care of departmental needs, whereby its inherent requirements will guide the training for each division. However, this does not mean that for a specific department, the system will not be holistically covered. Second, the training will also assume an individualized approach to cater for the personal aspects such as culture. Besides this strategy, the employees will be given practical sessions in groups to streamline their understanding of their departmental needs. In this approach, it will be possible to complete the training within the set schedule.
Achieving Buy-in
When introducing a new technology in an organization, it is essential to have all stakeholders, especially the management, to be in consensus. Attaining buy-in from the employees, and the administration will be a vital element of the training program. Communication will be the fundamental strategy of getting the rest of the organization on board. As in any organization, effective operations are hinged on superior communication (Vermeir et al., 2015). Laying out the vision is the first aspect of this part. All the employees and members of the management must understand how the EMR system will affect service delivery and the future of the facility. After tying the benefits of the system to the facility's vision, the next step will be collecting their input, which will help align the expected change with the objectives of the organization. Last, any objections will be amicably sorted.
Staff Training
Employee training is the cornerstone of this plan. Training will enable the organization to achieve its productivity, especially regarding the introduction and use of the EMR system. As mentioned above, training will predominantly assume a modular approach where the system aspects will be divided into modules. For instance, the employees will be trained on backend elements, such as how data will be stored. Other modules will include the billing system, client management component, clinical section, laboratory module, and radiology part, among others. The training will assume a bottom-up approach with the fundamental aspects covered first then proceeding to the more complex ones. It will be necessary for trainers to identify the different learning capabilities of each trainee within the departmental groupings (Shamshina, 2016). Ascertaining individual needs will help in ensuring uniformity in knowledge and skill acquisition. The goal of the modular model of training will also be to deformalize places of learning while also promoting practical and individualized learning (Hasske et al., 2017). Practical evaluations to gauge knowledge will be administered with challenging areas collectively addressed. The training will aim to ensure that each employee becomes competent enough to use the EMR system.
Teaching Strategies/ Diversity of Workers
The EMR training program will primarily assume a practical teaching approach. However, before delving into the practical aspect of the training, the employees will be oriented on the theoretical part of the system, which will give them the foundation for the more involving practicals. The facilitators must understand the extent of diverseness in the group. For example, some employees may have interacted with a similar system in other health facilities, while others might be slow to understand critical concepts. If the instructors do not consider the diverse needs of all the trainees, the objective of the training will not be achieved. The practical aspect of the training will be augmented through the use of templates (Atwater et al., 2016). Templates will enable the trainees to comprehend the best approach to a specific problem. Through the use of templates, the workers will be able to understand the system before interacting with it theoretically. For example, a graphical template of the billing component will give the learners an introductory perspective of the module.
Conclusion
Introducing an EMR to a skilled nursing facility is a step in the right direction since it will enhance service delivery and thus better patient care outcomes. A thorough training of the employees precedes a successful implementation. Lack of enough training can result in data inconsistencies, which will affect service delivery. Before conducting the training, it is crucial to achieving buy-ins from all stakeholders, including the employees. Proper and timely communication will facilitate this process. Employees from the same department will be placed in one group to ensure uniformity of knowledge acquisition. A modular training approach is the best to ensure that each aspect of the system is comprehensively trained. Trainees will be given practical tasks to evaluate the success of the educational program.
References
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Goodwin, J. S., Li, S., Middleton, A., Ottenbacher, K., & Kuo, Y. F. (2018). Differences Between Skilled Nursing Facilities in Risk of Subsequent Long-Term Care Placement. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society , 66 (10), 1880–1886. doi:10.1111/jgs.15377
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Shamshina, I. (2016). Modular training as technology of professional skills development of mechanical engineers. In SHS Web of Conferences (Vol. 26, p. 01058). EDP Sciences.
Vermeir, P., Vandijck, D., Degroote, S., Peleman, R., Verhaeghe, R., Mortier, E., … Vogelaers, D. (2015). Communication in healthcare: a narrative review of the literature and practical recommendations. International journal of clinical practice , 69 (11), 1257–1267. doi:10.1111/ijcp.12686
