Implementing the Clinical Practice Guidelines portion of Electronic Medical Records: Physician’s Buy In
With the outburst of technology and the new and creative ways to access information. Also healthcare administrators we understand that physicians are forced to leave behind pen and paper and fiercely adapt to the use of the IT world. However, there has been resistance to the adoption of new systems and the integration of patient care. To complicate things, health administrators and health leaders are asking physicians not only to document patient health records online but to also follow evidence based medicine and clinical practice guidelines (CPG) as established in these systems. CPGs are “systematically developed statements to assist practitioner …show more content…
In fact, barriers range from lack of adequate incentives to contrary opinions, to knowledge and attitude behavior ending with concerns around excessive local company influences, quality and no patient input (Hoyt, 2012). Similarly, health information technology can sometimes be complicated for physicians. It is understandable that some EHR systems are still difficult to manage and navigate. Therefore, it is essential for health administrators to understand and recognize the existence of barriers, in order to support physicians in the implementation process. Traditionally, CPGs have been paper based and often accompanies by a flow diagram or algorithm (Hoyt, 2012). However, nowadays, CPGs are being converted into electronic format and posted on internet and intranet for easy access (Hoyt, 2012). Additionally, today CPG’s are being integrated to EHRs and smartphones (Hoyt, 2012). Although not all EHRs have embedded CPGs, there is definite interest in providing local or national CPGs at the point of care (Hoyt, 2012). The successful implementation should improve quality of care by decreasing inappropriate variation and expediting the application of effective advances to everyday practice (Cabana, et al, …show more content…
Smartphones as mentioned above have applications that are being utilized to look at evidence based practice. In fact, look at the app Epocrates, which is the #1 medical app among U.S. physicians that helps support physician practice. To stay current with health technology trends, this year, they added a new feature to their application (app). Their section of Clinical practice guidelines allows access to evidence-based, patient-specific guidelines from national specialty societies - scaled for the moments of care (Epocrates, 2014). They explain that when a deeper dive is necessary, simply tap the reference link to access the full guideline direct from the source organization (Epocrates, 2014). This is just an example of how innovative the integration of clinical practice guidelines is today. It is critical that as healthcare practitioners, whether physicians or healthcare administrators, we must ensure that our response to the need to implement clinical guidelines is not part of a “we just have to do it” attitude. As Burke clearly states: “Healthcare quality metrics are moving at a rapid rate towards “we just have to do this”. (Burke, 2013). In fact, we just have to do this attitude can be a sign that an organization or individual has reduced actual business intention into blind policies and expectations (Burke, 2013). Therefore, for the good of all, let do it for the right reason, quality, efficiency and
With the outburst of technology and the new and creative ways to access information. Also healthcare administrators we understand that physicians are forced to leave behind pen and paper and fiercely adapt to the use of the IT world. However, there has been resistance to the adoption of new systems and the integration of patient care. To complicate things, health administrators and health leaders are asking physicians not only to document patient health records online but to also follow evidence based medicine and clinical practice guidelines (CPG) as established in these systems. CPGs are “systematically developed statements to assist practitioner …show more content…
In fact, barriers range from lack of adequate incentives to contrary opinions, to knowledge and attitude behavior ending with concerns around excessive local company influences, quality and no patient input (Hoyt, 2012). Similarly, health information technology can sometimes be complicated for physicians. It is understandable that some EHR systems are still difficult to manage and navigate. Therefore, it is essential for health administrators to understand and recognize the existence of barriers, in order to support physicians in the implementation process. Traditionally, CPGs have been paper based and often accompanies by a flow diagram or algorithm (Hoyt, 2012). However, nowadays, CPGs are being converted into electronic format and posted on internet and intranet for easy access (Hoyt, 2012). Additionally, today CPG’s are being integrated to EHRs and smartphones (Hoyt, 2012). Although not all EHRs have embedded CPGs, there is definite interest in providing local or national CPGs at the point of care (Hoyt, 2012). The successful implementation should improve quality of care by decreasing inappropriate variation and expediting the application of effective advances to everyday practice (Cabana, et al, …show more content…
Smartphones as mentioned above have applications that are being utilized to look at evidence based practice. In fact, look at the app Epocrates, which is the #1 medical app among U.S. physicians that helps support physician practice. To stay current with health technology trends, this year, they added a new feature to their application (app). Their section of Clinical practice guidelines allows access to evidence-based, patient-specific guidelines from national specialty societies - scaled for the moments of care (Epocrates, 2014). They explain that when a deeper dive is necessary, simply tap the reference link to access the full guideline direct from the source organization (Epocrates, 2014). This is just an example of how innovative the integration of clinical practice guidelines is today. It is critical that as healthcare practitioners, whether physicians or healthcare administrators, we must ensure that our response to the need to implement clinical guidelines is not part of a “we just have to do it” attitude. As Burke clearly states: “Healthcare quality metrics are moving at a rapid rate towards “we just have to do this”. (Burke, 2013). In fact, we just have to do this attitude can be a sign that an organization or individual has reduced actual business intention into blind policies and expectations (Burke, 2013). Therefore, for the good of all, let do it for the right reason, quality, efficiency and