Keywords
adoption - electronic medical record systems - organizational policies and procedures
- workflows and documentation processes - quality
Background and Significance
Background and Significance
Electronic medical records (EMRs) are comprehensive health information systems that
have recently replaced paper-based records and manual processes for clinical information
and patient care documentation in many large Australian health care organizations.
Introducing EMR systems into complex health care environments fundamentally changes
the work, workflows, and documentation processes of nursing, midwifery, and medical
staff.[1] EMR systems are expected to provide improved patient care by providing repositories
for comprehensive clinical information and facilitating inter- and intradisciplinary
communication, clarity of and access to clinical information, and improved medication
safety. However, these new systems and workflows must be accepted and adopted as intended
by clinicians in order for expected benefits to be achieved.[2]
[3]
Effective adaptation of international vendor-built EMR programs and systems to the
Australian health care environment requires extensive consultation with end users
to ensure that workflows, language, and setup of the system are suitable for use by
clinicians.[4] Due to the necessary adaptation of systems, each health care organization or jurisdiction
is expected to individually tailor EMR system documentation needs. Other requirements
for EMR acceptance and adoption by clinicians include ensuring workflows and hardware
fit local requirements.
At the study sites, this was achieved by developing EMR device principles,[5] monitoring workflow compliance and documentation completeness using clinician feedback
and small, discipline-specific assessment of EMR documentation (not published).
The EMR was developed in conjunction with clinicians across the health care organization
and adapted for the Australian context for implementation in 2019. Documentation and
workflows within the EMR were designed to align with the health care organization's
workflows, policies, procedures, and Australian National Safety and Quality Health
Service Standards (National Standards). The National Standards is a framework that
supports health care organizations to meet and deliver expected safe and quality care
standards nationally.[6] The National Standards also provided useful criteria to guide EMR content and workflows
at implementation.
Despite significant work to tailor EMR systems to meet organizational context and
needs, many health care organizations have encountered issues with EMR workflow compliance,
largely due to the increased documentation burden on clinicians.[7] Examination of EMR documentation burden and quality has most often focused on facilitating
EMR use by clinicians by improving workflows or examining condition- or process-specific
documentation.[8]
[9] EMR usability is multifactorial; hence, usability and adoption must be examined
in the context of multiple and complex work demands on clinicians. Improvement strategies
need to consider human responses to using EMR in their work to ensure sustained delivery
of safe and high-quality patient care.[10]
In order to examine documentation compliance and quality of a newly implemented EMR
system throughout our health care organization, an iterative, ongoing quality improvement
program was developed.[11] The Model for Improvement quality improvement framework incorporates three questions
(“What are you trying to accomplish?,” “How will you know a change is an improvement?,”
and “What change can you make that will result in improvement?”) and cycles of “Planning,
Doing, Studying and Acting”[12]. This framework was selected as it has been successfully used in health care settings
and provides a clear framework for customizable and iterative quality improvement
projects.[13] The cycle allowed the development of an iterative process, specific to our setting,
and was imperative to ensure model practicality and measurement development.[14] The multidisciplinary (nursing, midwifery, and medical) informatics teams were included
at each cycle stage.
Significance
The implementation of an EMR system dramatically changes clinicians' work and workflows.
EMR adoption can be variable and may lead to unintended consequences. Planning for
EMR implementation and ongoing optimization must consider human behaviors and change
management to support clinician adoption of new documentation processes. To ensure
sustained quality of patient care delivery, adherence to changed workflows by clinicians
must also be supported.
Objective
The aim of this study was to develop an iterative quality improvement program to address
nursing, midwifery, and medical EMR documentation by clinicians.
Methods
The Model for Improvement quality improvement framework guided this iterative study.
The multidisciplinary informatics team worked together to answer the three foundational
questions of the framework and outline the cycle steps of planning, doing, studying,
and acting.[12]
-
What are you trying to accomplish: The objective was to develop an iterative quality
improvement framework to assess and support EMR clinician documentation.
-
How will you know a change is an improvement: There was a need to develop and undertake
an audit to obtain benchmarking data to evaluate clinician documentation post-EMR
implementation (as part of the ongoing quality improvement project).
-
What change can you make that will result in improvement: Ongoing education and training
interventions to address specific gaps in EMR documentation.
Planning: Design, Pre- and Pilot Testing of an Audit Tool to Capture Documentation
Completeness and Quality within the Health Care Organization
The EMR audit tools were developed by the informatics teams to focus on key areas
of organizational risk and EMR workflows aligned with the National Standards.[6] Nursing and midwifery audits focused on the documentation of inpatient initial admission
assessment, risk assessments, care plans, handover, rounding and discharge planning,
as well as nutrition, fluid balance, blood or blood products, and medication administration.
These components aligned with four of the National Standards: (1) medication safety,
(2) comprehensive care, (3) communicating for safety, and (4) blood management. The
medical audit focused on EMR documentation of diagnoses, problem list completion,
goals of care, allergy documentation, admission documentation, inpatient reviews,
operative notes, discharge documentation, medication reconciliation, venous thromboembolism
care pathway, results endorsement, and emergency department presentation and discharge.
These aligned with three National Standards: (1) medication safety, (2) comprehensive
care, and (3) communicating for safety. The nursing and midwifery and medical audit
questions, as well as corresponding National Standards, are presented in [Tables 1] and [2], respectively.
Table 1
Nursing and midwifery audit questions and corresponding National Standards
Concept
|
Questions
|
Corresponding National Standard
|
Inpatient assessment
|
• Completion of required documentation
• Timing of completed documentation postadmission to the ward
|
Standard 5: Comprehensive Care
|
Risk assessments
|
Completion of required risk assessments as per patient's clinical condition, nursing
assessment or age
• Falls risk
• Nutrition risk screen
• Cognitive impairment
• Pressure injury risk
Timing of risk assessments completion in relation to admission
|
Care plans
|
The presence or absence of any suggested care plans (from risk assessments)
|
Number and type of care plans were active for the patient
• Number of interventions (including 'not done' interventions and patient-specific
documentation)
• Variances documented against interventions as necessary
|
Handover
|
Evidence of nurse–nurse handover documented within last 24 h
|
Standard 6: Communicating for Safety
|
Rounding and nursing care
|
• Nurse rounding within last 16 h (including introducing self, pain assessments,
interventions related to risk assessments, environmental scans, assistance with patient
care activities, call bell within reach)
• Nursing care documented including appropriate workflows for patients who have had
a fall in hospital, patients with wounds, patient mobility documented,
• The presence or absence of a nursing note
|
Standard 5: Comprehensive Care
|
Nutrition
|
Appropriate documentation related to patient nutrition including diet orders
|
Lines and devices
|
Adherence to workflow and appropriate documentation completed for each line or device
present (insertion, site condition, and removal)
|
Fluid balance chart
|
Appropriate documentation related to patient input and output on fluid balance chart
|
Blood or blood product administration
|
Adherence to workflow for blood or blood product administration
|
Standard 7: Blood Management
|
Medication administration
|
Adherence to workflows for medication administration (with and without barcode scanning)
|
Standard 4: Medication Safety
|
Early discharge planning
|
Appropriate early discharge planning documentation completed
|
Standard 5: Comprehensive Care and Standard 6: Communicating for Safety
|
Table 2
Medical audit questions and corresponding National Standards
Concept
|
Questions
|
Corresponding National Standard
|
Use of key shared repositories of clinical information
|
Problems list (diagnoses and problems)
|
Standard 6: Communicating for Safety
|
Recording diagnoses on discharge
• Use of the principal diagnosis being documented on discharge summary
|
Recording diagnoses and chronic conditions in a patient's chart
• Chronic medical problems and this visit diagnoses updated into central repository
vs. free text into notes only
|
Treatment limitations or lack thereof documented within 24 h of a patient's admission
|
Standard 5: Comprehensive Care
|
Complete documentation of patient's allergies or ADRs (description and all fields
completed)
|
Standard 4: Medication Safety
|
Documentation activities
|
Emergency department presentation and discharge
|
Standard 6: Communicating for Safety
|
Inpatient/Critical care admission, inpatient stay (review) and discharge
• Admission notes clearly documented with a plan
• Ward rounds notes (review of patients during inpatient stay) documented regularly
with a plan
• Discharge summaries completed in a timely manner with the correct note (to be sent
electronically), and including a principal diagnosis, discharge medication reconciliation
and plan
|
Theatre operation notes and codes
• Operation notes documented in correct workflow, with the indication(s), codes and
post-operative plan present
|
Medication reconciliation
|
Home medications documentation for patients on arrival to key areas (emergency department,
inpatient wards, critical care)
|
Standard 4: Medication Safety and Standard 6: Communicating for Safety
|
Transfer medication reconciliation completion for those stepping down from critical
care to other acute areas
|
Use of venous thromboembolism care pathway
|
Use of venous thromboembolism care pathway
• Utilizing the care pathway to make an assessment of a patient's risk of venous
thromboembolism
|
Standard 5: Comprehensive Care
|
Results endorsement
|
Completion of this workflow to formally acknowledge diagnostic imaging results
|
Standard 6: Communicating for Safety
|
Abbreviation: ADRs, adverse drug reactions.
Pretesting of the audit tools included clinician, researcher, and informatics experts
examining each item for clarity for auditors (e.g., preference for simple yes/no responses
and counting), relevance to the workflows of interest, and usability of the EMR documentation
forms, capturing documentation adherence with organizational policies and procedures
and understanding adoption of workflows. Changes enhanced item clarity and consistent
use between auditors (i.e., wording of questions and guidance about where to look
within EMR). Pilot testing assessed item order and consistency of data captured across
auditors, with no changes required.
Doing: Undertaking a Retrospective Audit of Nursing, Midwifery, and Medical Documentation
within the Electronic Medical Record
All audit data were collected retrospectively by trained (nursing, midwifery, and
medical) clinician superusers and subject matter experts; these expert EMR users had
supported EMR implementation and provided ongoing staff support. The training was
conducted in small groups either in-person or online depending on clinician availability
and included the demonstration of where to find the required clinical documentation
for the audit questions within EMR, providing clinicians with a data dictionary of
where to look for the documentation within the EMR. These same clinicians undertook
the pre- and pilot-testing of the audit.
All audit data were nonidentifiable, retrospective, and captured using handheld devices
in a secure form. Audit data were analyzed for quality (i.e., data fields completed/omitted)
and completeness (i.e., frequency of expected forms used/completed) in a patient's
EMR documentation.
Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria
Audit data were collected from randomly selected EMR records of patients present in
wards at the time of the audit. A random number generator was used to select the beds
for the patient record audit. Audits involved patient records from wards and departments
on six acute hospital sites. Care settings included critical care, acute medical,
surgical, and emergency settings. The nursing and midwifery audits excluded operating
theatre as hybrid computer and paper EMR workflows were in place. Medical audits excluded
mental health as the EMR workflow differed from other care settings. Both the nursing
and midwifery and medical audits excluded records of inpatient stays less than 24-hour
duration (reduced documentation) and maternity areas (hybrid paper and EMR documentation
workflows).
Studying: Analysis of Audit Results as Baseline Measures for Informing Expected Standards
of Documentation and Set-Up Benchmarking for Comparison in Future Work
Results analysis was completed by two members of the research team who had not completed
the audit. Statistical analyses (frequencies and descriptives) were completed using
IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (Version 27) for Windows.
Acting: Development of Targeted Education and Training Activities
Based on the audit results and gaps identified in EMR documentation, targeted education
and training activities were developed and delivered both in-person and online to
capture as many staff as possible.
Study Setting
A large Victorian tertiary public health care organization that provides care across
the entire lifespan was the setting for this study. A “big-bang” style EMR system
implementation (i.e., change from paper to EMR system for all inpatient clinical documentation,
medications, orders, and scheduling) was used at three-time points across seven hospital
sites between August and November 2019. Nursing, midwifery, and medical informatics
teams collaborated on governance, communication, education, training, and research
to support adoption and sustainability as the EMR system was embedded into the organization.
Ethics Approval
Ethics approval was granted by the healthcare organization (reference numbers QA/64509/MonH-2020-213787(v1)
and QA/76441/MonH-2021-266966(v1)).
Results
Audit Results
Of the 1,349 records audited between May and August 2020, 629 were nursing and midwifery
documentation audits (audit completed over 12 weeks) and 720 were medical documentation
audits (audit completed over 4 weeks). The duration of auditing timeframes was determined
by the availability of clinical staff to conduct the audits.
Audit data were reported using the percentage of documentation quality (fields completed)
and completeness (forms used) of the questions (detailed in [Tables 1] and [2]) as follows: good (80% or higher), moderate (60–80%), and poor (less than 60%).
The nursing, midwifery, and medical informatics teams, in collaboration with the training
and adoption team, determined the percentage ranges for documentation quality and
completeness for ease of understanding and benchmarking within the large organization.
The nursing and midwifery audit results are presented in [Table 3]. Five components of nursing and midwifery documentation were rated as good: care
planning (88%), lines and devices (85%), blood or blood products documentation (91%),
handover (84%), and rounding (83%). Diet orders (69%), fluid balance charting (60%),
and early discharge planning (64%) were rated as moderate, and one component was rated
as poor (risk assessments [21%]). Two components were assessed on documentation quality
as well as timeliness: inpatient assessments were initiated in a timely manner; however,
their rates of completion were poor (33%), while the documentation of medication administration
documentation was good (91%) and use of patient barcode scanning was moderate (73%).
Table 3
Nursing and midwifery audit results
Audit component
|
Score
|
Grade (good >80%, moderate 60–80%, poor <60%)
|
Inpatient assessment
|
Documentation
|
33%
|
Poor
|
Timeliness
|
>80%
|
Good
|
Risk assessments documentation
|
21%
|
Poor
|
Care plans documentation
|
88%
|
Good
|
Handover documentation
|
84%
|
Good
|
Rounding and nursing care documentation
|
83%
|
Good
|
Early discharge planning documentation
|
64%
|
Moderate
|
Nutrition—diet orders documentation
|
69%
|
Moderate
|
Lines and devices documentation
|
85%
|
Good
|
Fluid balance chart documentation
|
60%
|
Moderate
|
Blood or blood product administration documentation
|
91%
|
Good
|
Medication administration
|
Documentation
|
91%
|
Good
|
Patient barcode scanning
|
73%
|
Moderate
|
The medical audit results are presented in [Table 4]. Four components of the medical audit were rated as good: allergies with mandatory
field documentation (98%), inpatient review documentation (99%), admission documentation
workflow (81%), and operation documentation workflow (88%). One component was rated
moderate (discharge documentation workflow [72%]), and five components were rated
as poor: venous thromboembolism pathway workflow (42%), medical reconciliations workflow
(<50%), problems list documentation workflow (65%), goals of care documentation workflow
(61%), and diagnostic imaging results requiring endorsement (68%).
Table 4
Medical audit results
Audit component
|
Score
|
Grade (Good >80%, Moderate 60–80%, Poor <60%)
|
Use of key shared repositories of clinical information
|
Problems list documentation workflow
|
65%
|
Moderate
|
Goals of care documentation workflow
|
61%
|
Moderate
|
Allergies with mandatory fields documentation
|
98%
|
Good
|
Documentation activities
|
Admission documentation workflow
|
81%
|
Good
|
Inpatient reviews documentation
|
99%
|
Good
|
Operation documentation workflow
|
88%
|
Good
|
Discharge documentation workflow
|
72%
|
Moderate
|
Medication reconciliation
|
Medical reconciliations workflow
|
<50%
|
Poor
|
Use of venous thromboembolism care pathway
|
Venous thromboembolism pathway workflow
|
42%
|
Poor
|
Results endorsement
|
68%
|
Moderate
|
Development and Delivery of Targeted Training Interventions
The areas that scored poorly in the audits were the foci for targeted improvement
interventions. Specific education and training interventions included discipline-specific
communications to managers and EMR superusers throughout the organization; a dedicated
period of in-person supernumerary shifts (including EMR subject matter experts, EMR
trainers, and members of informatics teams) across all six acute hospital sites and
clinical areas to answer questions and address specific workflows that scored poorly
for each discipline and answer questions from clinical staff; review and update of
existing education and training materials on the organization's learning portal and
intranet sites for ease of use and clarity; and review and update of new staff member
education and training materials.
A framework was also developed collaboratively between the informatics, education,
training, and adoption teams. The framework identified five essential elements to
enhance EMR documentation adoption and quality.
-
Communication: Communication includes informing health care organization staff (both
clinical and managerial) about key performance gaps, proposed solutions, and available
EMR resources via screensavers, clinical, and educational forums, and manager-specific
communications.
-
EMR Optimization: EMR optimization included using the audit findings as opportunities
to review and evaluate EMR design and build. This included clarity of information
and optimization of workflows, as well as minimization of documentation requirements,
was possible (e.g. elimination of duplication).
-
Targeted training and adoption activities: Targeted training and adoption activities
elaborated on the foundational EMR training and online resources for staff and were
used to empower staff with the skills and capabilities required for optimal EMR use.
Programs developed included ongoing learning to address EMR documentation completeness
and quality gaps identified in the audit results. Training and adoption materials
were made available to all staff via the organization's intranet and education portals.
-
User support: User support involved clinicians working collaboratively at executive,
managerial, and direct-care levels to continuously assess staff needs and redirect
resources and support as required.
-
Governance, engagement, and ownership: Governance, engagement, and ownership involved
building on this study's development of key priorities for EMR documentation and quality
improvement, engaging with and empowering key enablers, and embedding EMR excellence
through role modeling and clinical dialogue.
To support the five elements of this new framework and track ongoing compliance, an
EMR data dashboard was also established to monitor quality and compliance rates for
nursing, midwifery, and medical EMR documentation expectations alongside the National
Standards. The dashboard extracts EMR clinical documentation data related to the audited
areas to examine documentation completeness and quality. The dashboard, therefore,
supports sharing of information on clinicians' use of the EMR to the informatics,
training, and adoption teams, clinical managers, and educators, as well as executive
and leadership teams. Furthermore, the EMR dashboard data facilitate reporting across
organizational governance structures. The health care organization executive, clinical
lead, and governance frameworks were also updated.
Discussion
This study used the Model for Improvement quality improvement framework[12] to develop an ongoing, iterative quality improvement program to address nursing,
midwifery, and medical EMR documentation by clinicians within our health care organization.
In order to address the need for benchmarking data for EMR documentation by clinicians,
an audit was developed and used to identify key workflows requiring improvements in
EMR documentation quality and completeness. Though audit results were not comparable
across disciplines due to differences in work and workflows, valuable data were obtained
to assist with the evaluation of EMR documentation components to ensure clarity and
streamlining of workflows where possible. Targeted education and training interventions
were developed to address gaps in EMR documentation compliance and quality for each
health care group. By doing so, this study addressed the need to provide personalized
education and training that corresponds to clinicians' work and workflows, thereby
improving EMR use by clinicians.[15] Conducting the audit supported evaluation of timeliness of EMR documentation as
part of admission and ongoing care workflows, in addition to documentation quality.
This also fills a gap previously identified in Australian research on EMR admission
documentation.[16]
Positive responses from clinicians receiving in-person and personalized EMR support
are in agreement with previous literature that showed EMR demonstrations improved
multidisciplinary clinicians' attitudes and knowledge.[17] Additionally, reassessment of the EMR system, as well as targeted interventions
based on the audit results, supports the need to consider that clinical documentation
information is not only valued by clinicians but integral to support them in providing
safe and quality patient care.[3]
Two further outcomes were the result of the development and evaluation of audit data
in this study: the first included a framework with five elements to ensure ongoing
EMR documentation and use by clinicians are monitored, and EMR adoption and quality
are enhanced, while the second includes a new EMR data dashboard that provides clinical,
managerial, and leadership staff with up-to-date information on EMR documentation
quality and compliance. These two initiatives support the health care organization's
ongoing EMR improvement program. It is hoped these initiatives will also minimize
documentation-related cognitive burden by improving the organization's understanding
of EMR documentation requirements and, in turn, facilitate clinicians' work and EMR
documentation by providing resources and targeted interventions to minimize resource
wastage.[18]
[19] Governance frameworks were also updated to reflect the need for a coordinated approach
to EMR optimization, including updated EMR training for new or returning staff to
include online learning and webinars on workflows deemed to be at-risk for poor adoption
or compliance.
The audit of EMR documentation only 1-year postimplementation will serve the health
care organization as a baseline for EMR use and documentation evaluation. As the organization's
EMR use matures, examination of ongoing EMR adoption will include repeating audits
on nursing, midwifery, and medical staff documentation, and comparing results to assist
in understanding the consequences of the targeted interventions.[20] This study helps to fill the gap in Australian literature on EMR implementations
and quality improvement initiatives related to EMR documentation.
The EMR data dashboard incorporates multidisciplinary EMR documentation quality and
compliance, as well as feedback from clinicians about targeted training programs.
The dashboard will help identify areas requiring further remediation and assess intervention
effectiveness. An ongoing program has been developed for the targeted training of
specific areas of EMR documentation. Targeted training alternates each quarter to
ensure sufficient resources for the multiple sites of the large health care organization
and to minimize the burden on clinicians learning or relearning of workflows.
Strengths and Limitations
This study has several strengths and limitations. Strengths include a multidisciplinary
team approach, providing both in-person and online EMR support to clinicians. The
recent implementation of EMR systems throughout Australian health care organizations,
compared to our international colleagues, means that context-specific interventions
to facilitate learning and adoption of EMR are less available or not relevant to the
Australian health care context. The accessibility of the informatics, training, and
adoption teams to resources made available by the health care organization for ongoing
EMR quality improvement postimplementation included allocation of staff including
an EMR researcher, nursing, midwifery and medical EMR superusers, and subject matter
experts. This strength may not be feasible or possible in smaller organizations.
Due to the nature of providing in-person support to a large health care organization's
workforce over multiple sites, some clinicians may not have been able to access the
in-person workflow walkthroughs. The exclusion of some clinical areas that are utilizing
a mix of paper and electronic documentation may also be seen as a limitation in this
study.
The iterative nature of this quality improvement study can also be seen as both a
limitation and a strength. Only obtaining informal feedback at this stage of the study
in regard to clinicians' perceptions of effectiveness is a limitation; however, multiple
outcomes (audit results and development of a data dashboard and framework for ongoing
adoption interventions) are promising strengths.
Conclusion
This study provides the foundation for an ongoing and iterative quality improvement
program to improve EMR documentation. Development and evaluation of an EMR audit supported
targeted training and education interventions to address gaps in the quality and compliance
of clinicians' EMR documentation. Barriers to EMR usability were addressed by both
in-person and online measures to assist clinicians including understanding EMR documentation
requirements as well as patient care implications.
A framework to support ongoing EMR adoption-related interventions for the organization
was developed, as well as an EMR data dashboard that provides information about multidisciplinary
clinicians' use (including completeness and quality) of EMR documentation.
Clinical Relevance Statement
Clinical Relevance Statement
An audit of EMR documentation quality and completeness can inform targeted training
and education interventions for EMR adoption improvement. Ongoing assessment of EMR
use and documentation compliance and quality can assist in understanding the workflows,
needs, and education and training requirements of nursing, midwifery, and medical
staff. This approach should be considered as part of any large-scale EMR implementation
or optimization.
Multiple Choice Questions
Multiple Choice Questions
-
Which clinician groups were included in the phase one audit?
Correct Answer: The correct answer is option c: Nursing, Midwifery, and Medical. All three clinician
groups' EMR documentation was audited in phase one of the study in order to obtain
a breadth of clinical areas and clinician workflows for examination of EMR documentation
compliance and quality.
-
Which National Standards were the nursing and midwifery audit based on?
-
Medication safety, comprehensive care, and communicating for safety and blood management
-
Medication safety and comprehensive care
-
Comprehensive care and communicating for safety
-
Medication safety, comprehensive care, and communicating for safety
Correct Answer: The correct answer is option a: Medication safety, comprehensive care, and communicating
for safety and blood management. The alignment of the nursing and midwifery audit
to four of the National Standards supported the multidisciplinary informatics teams
and training and adoption team in their preparation of the targeted training materials
and information provided to clinicians to support existing workflows and clinical
practices.