The advancement in technology has made it possible for healthcare organizations to adopt strategies that improve the delivery of care and enhance the overall experience of patients. One technological strategy that has seen an improvement in the storage and access of patient information is the Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system. It involves the collection and storage of patient and population information in a digital format. As a technological strategy, it will face resistance among the staff at Thomason Health System (THS) because it represents a significant change the personnel may not be comfortable with. It is necessary to identify how this resistance to change will be addressed before implementing the system to ensure the process runs smoothly once it is in place.
One strategy to use when addressing resistance to change would be the provision of education on the technology. Staff would be afraid to adopt the EMRs because of the lack of knowledge on how it is used ( AAPL Staff, 2018). They would rather not welcome it than struggle using it. Najaftorkaman (2016), identifies that some technological factors such as education and technical support would result in resistance when implementing this technology. Resistance would greatly decrease if staff members were aware, they were supported. Therefore, availing sufficient education and technical support would provide enough insight on the system and make it easy for care providers to use.
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Another strategy would be availing administrative and stakeholder support for the staff. In her study Sumbi (2016), identifies that the implementation of EMRs in the institution failed due to lack of stakeholder investment and administrative support. Members of staff need to be aware that even when they decide to use this system, resources will be availed to them ( McHugh et al., 2018) . They need to understand its legal aspects and how they would be safeguarded from any legal issues ( National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), 2019 ) . This assurance can only be provided through support from the administration and the ease of access to resources necessary to make the system easy to use.
Overall, there are numerous strategies that can be adopted to eliminate resistance to the implementation of the EMRs. One strategy would be the provision of sufficient education on how the technology works. It is also necessary for staff to be informed that there are enough resources to support this change and that they can count on the support of the administration.
References
AAPL Staff. (2018). Strategies to Beat Resistance to Change . Physicianleaders.org. Retrieved 25 March 2021, from https://www.physicianleaders.org/news/strategies-beat-resistance-change.
McHugh, M., VanDyke, K., McClelland, M., & Moss, D. (2018). Improving patient flow and reducing emergency department crowding: a guide for hospitals. https://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/final-reports/ptflow/section6.html
Najaftorkaman, M. (2016). Facilitators and Barriers to User Adoption of Electronic Health Record Systems (Doctoral dissertation, Griffith University, Gold Coast). https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au/bitstream/handle/10072/368008/Najaftorkaman_2016_01Thesis.pdf?sequence=1
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). (2019). How do I overcome resistance within my organization during electronic health record implementation? | HealthIT.gov . Healthit.gov. Retrieved 25 March 2021, from https://www.healthit.gov/faq/how-do-i-overcome-resistance-within-my-organization-during-electronic-health-record .
Sumbi, E. M. (2016). Investigating challenges to electronic medical record systems adoption: a case of Coast Province General Hospital (Doctoral dissertation, Strathmore University). https://su-plus.strathmore.edu/handle/11071/4577
