Stop, drop, and roll: Is electronic health record training the forgotten skill?

Title : Stop, drop, and roll: Is electronic health record training the forgotten skill?

Abstract:

Although clinical skills evaluation is the gold standard for assessing competence, there is one vital skill that is oftentimes minimized, discounted, or performed using outdated tools.  The only skill that is used to validate all other skills nurses perform each day is electronic health record (EHR) documentation.  The goal of EHR's is to ensure a patient will have what they need when they need it.  Ninety-six percent of healthcare organizations use an EHR system.  Research supports that EHR competence and experience has the potential to impact patient outcomes, quality measures, risks, reimbursements, and satisfaction scores. Data shows nurses spend 40-50% of their workday using an EHR, however, only 20% of nursing students reported having EHR training while in school. Since the nursing field is leading this charge, the goal should be for 100% of nursing students to have access to an EHR during training.  Focused EHR training helps prepare students for professional success and propels nursing curriculum and training into the 21st century. We can no longer watch as advancing technology leaves students and instructors vulnerable and unprepared.    Student nurses who gain experience and competence are empowered to develop into long-term and well-adjusted new nurses directly impacting retention rates.  Integrating EHR training into the current curriculum and setting the standard for how students are trained to document patient care at the school level helps alleviate stress from healthcare organizations, students, and the patients they serve.  This presentation will share how the lack of EHR documentation skills has the potential to delay, detour, and destroy nursing professional advancements and keep us functioning without the added benefits of technological advancements.

Biography:

Vanessa K. Williams-Harvey is a life-long advocate for setting high standards and helping others to achieve their life purpose through self-awareness and professional development.  She is a registered nurse, with over 30 years of experience, and currently works as a Clinical Informatics Manager.  Vanessa loves challenges so in 2021, she stepped out on faith and began the journey of entrepreneurship.  In 2017, she published a book, “I Remember”, which is about her family’s struggles when its matriarch was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and how the crisis almost destroyed everything their mother had spent a lifetime building.  In her spare time, Vanessa is a champion for Alzheimer’s awareness and the founder of the annual Derby Alzheimer’s Luncheon.  She is married to her husband, Mark, and they are the proud grandparents of one granddaughter and four sons.  For fun, she enjoys family time at home, attending church, fishing, exercising, and gardening.  The common theme Vanessa shares is that the time is now to strive for personal acceptance and satisfaction by paying DUES – Do better. Understand better. Expect better. Serve best!