In today’s globalized world, organizations need to undergo changes which can enable them to make a transition from their current state to another desired future state. The primary importance of organization’s undergoing change is to remain competitive and ensure their operations remain in-line with the advancement in technology. A group that becomes resistant to change is bound not to survive in the current business environment ( French et al., 2005).
Most health care facilities undergo transitioning from the traditional paper-based charts to electronic health records (EHRs). The primary reasons for this shift in my organization were the numerous disadvantages that come with the traditional means of information storage (Menachemi, & Collum, 2011). Manual records become associated with high costs of operation. In the duplication of the files, it will require a lot of paper and staff to ensure they become duplicated, assembled and retrieved. As such Paper-based records leads to a loss of productivity.
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A lot of time is consumed in searching for misplaced records. Paper records become associated with a lot of errors made by the clerical staff. This can significantly affect the health care provision given to patients leading to an endangerment of their lives. Paper records are fragile and do not last longer as compared to electronic documentation. During their use, they become subjected to tear and wear or strain. The ink used in writing them can also fade away (Häyrinen et al., 2008). Following these disadvantages, a need for a transition from a paper-based organization to an electronic health-based records system became necessary.
Following the transition to EHRs, my role as the head of the clerical department had been changed. In my initial position, I would oversee and ensure all the records were updated and arranged in an orderly manner on the shelves. I managed a staff of more than twenty individuals. The assignment of clerical duties was under my supervision. These included posting different staff on various postings such as filling patient information, photocopying, answering phone calls, booking patients for appointments and chasing up reports. The introduction of the EHRs reduced my department’s workload. About 75% of our duties revolved around the patient medical records. This saw a reduction in staff by close to 60%; thus the department became merged with another department. My position as the head clerk became extinct. I currently head the EHRs department and oversee only the staff that deals with the recording of patient information made up of only five team members (Menachemi, & Collum, 2011).
Following the change from paper-based patient records to electronic health records, there has been an improvement in patient health care provision. Complaints about misplaced patients' records reduced by almost 98%. Also, the errors that occurred as a result of transcription decreased significantly. The number patients served in a day has also increased tremendously. Before the adoption of the EHRs, a lot of time was used in retrieving patient information and searching for patient records. The EHRs produce a patient's records in a matter of seconds allowing for as many patients as possible to see the doctor in a day. Employee productivity has increased for information on patients becomes easily found. The time that was spent search for misplaced patient records reduced by 99% (Bell, 2011).
The transitioning process from paper-based methods of storing patient information to EHRs was managed skillfully. The employees using the EHRs in recording patient information underwent a three months training program. Its main purpose was to ensure they became equipped with the necessary knowledge on how they would use the new systems in recording, storing and retrieving the patients’ information (Menachemi, & Collum, 2011). The only challenge that the transition experienced was the handling of the old paper records. Most of the paper base patient records were entered manually into the EHRs systems and discarded in the stores. A lot of time was used in the process.
This transition process of entering patient information from the paper records will have improved if the documents become scanned using a phased approach. In this method, the paper charts and the e-chart would become used side by side. This would allow for the paper chart to used as a reference during the patient’s next visits. The aim of this would be to ensure correct patient information becomes entered in the EHRs (Menachemi, & Collum, 2011). After the patient has confirmed all the information, they would, therefore, become discarded in the stores.
In conclusion, change indeed brings about positive changes to an organization only if correctly implemented . Organizations need to embrace change to remain competitive and ensure they fulfill all their customers’ needs. The transition from paper-based records o EHRs brought positive results to the hospital. Despite the existence of challenges during the development process, the overall goals and objectives of the hospital became fulfilled.
References
Bell, B. & Thornton, K. (2011). From promise to reality achieving the value of an EHR. Healthcare Financial Management ,65(2), 51-56.
French, W. L., Bell, C., & Zawacki, R. A. (2005). Organization development and transformation: Managing effective change . Macmillan/McGraw-Hill School.
Häyrinen, K., Saranto, K., & Nykänen, P. (2008). Definition, structure, content, use and impacts of electronic health records: a review of the research literature. International journal of medical informatics , 77 (5), 291-304.
Menachemi, N. & Collum, T. H. (2011). Benefits and drawbacks of electronic health record systems. Risk Manag Healthc Policy, 4 , 47–55.
