OR Manager - June 2020 - 25

AMBULATORY
SURGERY CENTERS
tal software, do know what is required
to be certified for inpatient systems,
and although software functionality may
need to be added or enhanced to meet
future requirements, the benefits of
moving forward now outweigh waiting.
Electronic documentation increases
staff efficiency and throughput,
and facilitates reporting.
How do ASCs start preparing
for this? Is there any specific
software they should use?
They should evaluate the ASC software
that's available. And there really aren't
many options. In addition to our company,
there are a couple of smaller
companies in this market, and there is
software that's specific for gastroenterology
centers.
Once you find a vendor, they need
to give as complete a presentation as
possible. It takes time to do a thorough
evaluation. You want to look at your
return on investment and system upgrades.
The cost is part of the equation,
but not all of it. You can go for a bargain
basement system and get what you pay
for or go with another system that has
all the bells and whistles. If bells and
whistles are what your governing body
and your staff want, there's a better
chance of everyone using them.
You must do what's best for you.
And that takes time. Once you're there,
you need to have a plan in place to
bring staff onto the system and get
them proficient with the software.
Many centers use a superuser approach
to help with adoption and ongoing
training. We have a philosophy at
SIS: Make it super easy for surgeons
with a mobile approach where they can
easily access exactly what they need
with as few touchpoints as possible.
Physicians need user-friendly software
that allows them to work from
their cell phones to complete tasks
such as looking at their schedule, creating
op notes, signing op notes, or
dictating histories and physicals. Whatwww.ormanager.com
ever
they need do, they can do on their
phones. And that's huge. Communication
is critical. You can send them
text messages saying their patient is in
preop and ready to go into the OR. And
they can text back that they're 5 minutes
late, for example.
How can EHRs help stream
workflow for perioperative nurses?
One of the biggest mistakes we see
is that nurses don't understand their
workflow. ASC software can assist with
making sure all steps are easily documented
in the order of that center's
workflow. Role-based workflow trackers
are a huge productivity enhancer.
In an efficient EHR, tasks will pop
up, such as: " Anesthesia, you need
to do your preassessment on this patient. "
We have this feature, but not
all vendors do. Once you mimic the
workflow, people feel less resentful of
having to change what they do. When
management doesn't understand the
workflow and makes decisions without
involving the perioperative nursing staff,
that's not going to work. The end users
have to be actively involved.
What training is involved
with EHRs?
The first step to help with training is to
select software designed specifically
for an ASC's workflow and then ensure
that it is easy and intuitive to use. Every
company has EHR training. If you have
50 ASC employees, how do you train all
of them?
A big problem is the per diems. They
don't always get trained on the new
system. They also don't get on the system
often enough to be familiar with
it. Once you get the EHR, a per diem
nurse who doesn't use it for a month
might need help getting back on track.
Another issue: When you have turnover,
how do the new staff get trained?
The bottom line is: People can't ignore
this. But they might. We're in a surreal
environment now with coronavirus, where
people are worried about cash flow and
cancelling their elective procedures or
possibly closing their doors. EHRs are
not at the top of their list right now. But
ASCs can't ignore it. When we're over the
hump, and life gets back to normal, all of
this will come back to the forefront. ✥
Jennifer Lubell is a healthcare writer
based in Rockville, Maryland.
References
Charles D, Gabriel M, Searcy T. Adoption
of electronic health record systems
among US non-federal acute
care hospitals: 2008-2014. ONC
Data Brief 23. Office of the National
Coordinator for Health Information
Technology: Washington, DC.
https://www.healthit.gov/sites/
default/files/data-brief/2014Hospit
alAdoptionDataBrief.pdf.
EHR State Incentive Program. Maryland
Health Care Commission.
https://mhcc.maryland.gov/mhcc/
pages/hit/hit_ehr/hit_ehr_state_incentive.aspx.
Health
IT Data Summaries. Office of
the National Coordinator for Health
Information Technology. https://
dashboard.healthit.gov/apps/
health-information-technology-datasummaries.php?state=National&ca
t9=all+data&cat1=ehr+adoption.
OR
Manager | June 2020
25
https://www.healthit.gov/sites/ https://mhcc.maryland.gov/mhcc/ http://https:// http://dashboard.healthit.gov/apps/ http://www.ormanager.com
OR Manager - June 2020

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