Curricular Path to Value: Integrating an Academic Electronic Health Record

Abstract

Faculty should continue to share their innovative teaching strategies for AEHR integration. Further research should include measurable outcomes of integrating an AEHR throughout a curriculum. [J Nurs Educ. 2016;55(12):716-719.].

The effect of early adoption of an academic electronic health record system in nursing education: A pilot outcome study

“…[5] Several studies show that a majority of faculty reported that they are self-taught regarding nursing documentation using the EHR system, and their barriers were lack of resources that lead to the slow adoption of AEHRs. [7,9,18] In addition, this study found that nurse educators still faced several challenges; a small group of nursing faculty involved, a lack of training, and a lack of a specific plan in curriculum development related to AEHRs.…”

“…The current literature shows that students are confident with their electronic nursing documentation after students explore AEHRs, [5,18] although several challenges/barriers were addressed in the current literature such as a lack of training, inadequate technical support, and cost. [5,7,9,19] One of the barriers, some faculty felt that learning electronic documentation was not a priority. [5] Several studies show that a majority of faculty reported that they are self-taught regarding nursing documentation using the EHR system, and their barriers were lack of resources that lead to the slow adoption of AEHRs.…”

“…Within AEHRs, faculty and nursing students should be not only familiar with AEHRs for data entry but also competent with the meaningful use of AEHRs in learning/teaching throughout the curriculum. [7,9] The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Act also supports the "meaningful use" of EHRs. According to the CDC's report, [21] meaningful use is defined by the use of EHRs in a meaningful manner that provides for the electronic exchange of health information to improve the quality of care.…”

“…[5][6][7][8] Specifically, AEHRs can help students how to utilize standard nursing terminology, how to incorporate clinical documentation from various sources, how to support standard care plans, guidelines, and protocols, and how to support drug interaction checking, and linking clinical tasks. [7,9,10] However, nurse educators have been faced with several challenges to meet the expectation of graduate nurses' competency to use AEHRs for synthesizing knowledge in patient care. The barriers include the Internet connectivity at the clinical laboratory, [5] the small group of nursing faculty involved in integrating AEHRs, [9] lack of resources, including IT support and faculty development.…”

“…[7,9,10] However, nurse educators have been faced with several challenges to meet the expectation of graduate nurses' competency to use AEHRs for synthesizing knowledge in patient care. The barriers include the Internet connectivity at the clinical laboratory, [5] the small group of nursing faculty involved in integrating AEHRs, [9] lack of resources, including IT support and faculty development. [7] In order to ensure adequate preparation for meaningful use within the EHRs, integrating an AEHRs into the curriculum is no longer optional for nursing faculty.…”