Presentation
Assessment of Current Evidence on the Impact of Electronic Health Record Transitions on the Patient Experience
DescriptionThis presentation will deliver a summary of the most recent research about the patient experience during a health care organization’s transition from one electronic health record (EHR) to another. While organizations plan for challenging impacts on clinical users’ experience, patients also may experience negative impacts, at least in the near term. For example, during one EHR switch at the Mayo Clinic (North et al., 2020), researchers found significant drops in patient satisfaction, especially with access (ease of getting clinic on phone, ease of scheduling appointments, etc.). Patient satisfaction levels with access did not return to pre-EHR switch levels for 9-15 months. Another study focused on the impact on patient experience at the bedside during an EHR switch (Monturo et al., 2022). Patients perceived more use of the computer by nurses and a declining use by other clinical staff, although the EHR switch did not seem to affect overall patient experience at the bedside. In a current, high-profile example, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is undergoing a nation-wide EHR transition. Studies at initial pilot sites for the EHR switch have found the corresponding change to patient portals to be particularly problematic. Patients experienced difficulties learning to access and use the patient portal (Ball et al., 2023). As a result, some patients were unsuccessful in obtaining medication refills via the portal and/or communicating with their providers through the portal’s secure messaging. This finding is consistent with our own experience during the VA EHR transition, where we observed cases of veterans’ secure portal messages were sent to the wrong providers and in some cases “all” providers in a group or at a facility, which then contributes to increased provider workload. Similarly, Fix et al. (2023) found that providing substantial guidance for patients on the use of the new patient portal is essential. This presentation will review the latest available evidence for the impact of EHR transitions on patients and provide corresponding recommendations. It will also begin a discussion of best practices for assessing patient experience during EHR transitions.
Ball, S. L., Kim, B., Cutrona, S. L., Molloy-Paolillo, B. K., Ahlness, E., Moldestad, M., & Rinne, S. T. (2023). Clinician and Staff Experiences with Frustrated Patients during an Electronic Health Record Transition: A Qualitative Case Study. Preprint from ResearchSquare. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3304815/v1
Fix, G. M., Haltom, T. M., Cogan, A. M., Shimada, S. L., & Davila, J. A. (2023). Understanding Patients’ Preferences and Experiences During an Electronic Health Record Transition. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 1-7. Published online ahead of print.
Monturo, C., Brockway, C., & Ginev, A. (2022). Electronic Health Record Transition: The Patient Experience. CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing, 40(1), 53-60.
North, F., Pecina, J. L., Tulledge-Scheitel, S. M., Chaudhry, R., Matulis, J. C., & Ebbert, J. O. (2020). Is a switch to a different electronic health record associated with a change in patient satisfaction? Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 27(6), 867-876.
Saleem, J. J., & Herout, J. (2018, September). Transitioning from one Electronic Health Record (EHR) to another: a narrative literature review. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting (Vol. 62, No. 1, pp. 489-493). Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications.
Ball, S. L., Kim, B., Cutrona, S. L., Molloy-Paolillo, B. K., Ahlness, E., Moldestad, M., & Rinne, S. T. (2023). Clinician and Staff Experiences with Frustrated Patients during an Electronic Health Record Transition: A Qualitative Case Study. Preprint from ResearchSquare. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3304815/v1
Fix, G. M., Haltom, T. M., Cogan, A. M., Shimada, S. L., & Davila, J. A. (2023). Understanding Patients’ Preferences and Experiences During an Electronic Health Record Transition. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 1-7. Published online ahead of print.
Monturo, C., Brockway, C., & Ginev, A. (2022). Electronic Health Record Transition: The Patient Experience. CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing, 40(1), 53-60.
North, F., Pecina, J. L., Tulledge-Scheitel, S. M., Chaudhry, R., Matulis, J. C., & Ebbert, J. O. (2020). Is a switch to a different electronic health record associated with a change in patient satisfaction? Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 27(6), 867-876.
Saleem, J. J., & Herout, J. (2018, September). Transitioning from one Electronic Health Record (EHR) to another: a narrative literature review. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting (Vol. 62, No. 1, pp. 489-493). Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications.
Event Type
Oral Presentations
TimeWednesday, March 278:30am - 8:52am CDT
LocationSalon A-2
Digital Health