The use of bedside electronic medical record to improve quality of care in nursing facilities: a qualitative analysis.
It appears that the implementation and use of a bedside electronic medical record in nursing homes can be a strategy to improve quality of care. Staff like using the bedside electronic medical record and believe it is beneficial. Information gleaned from this qualitative evaluation of four nursing homes that implemented complete electronic medical records and participated in a larger evaluation of the use of an electronic medical record will be useful to other nursing homes as they consider implementing bedside computing technology. Nursing home owners and administrators must be prepared to undertake a major change requiring many months of planning to successfully implement. Direct care staff will need support as they learn to use the equipment, especially for the first 6 to 12 months after implementation. There should be a careful plan for continuing education opportunities so that staff learn to properly use the software and can benefit from the technology. After 12 to 24 months, almost no one wants to return to the era of paper charting.
Sinclair School of Nursing and Family and Community Medicine, School of Medicine and University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA. rantzm@missouri.edu
Marilyn J
MJ
Rantz
Greg
G
Alexander
Colleen
C
Galambos
Marcia K
MK
Flesner
Amy
A
Vogelsmeier
Lanis
L
Hicks
Jill
J
Scott-Cawiezell
Mary
M
Zwygart-Stauffacher
Leslie
L
Greenwald
D014487:Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S.; D057286:Electronic Health Records; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D014481:United States