Are staff in rural healthcare facilities ready for EHRs?

Yuan Han Huang, Sandra K. Garrett, Kevin M. Taaffe, Anand K. Gramopadhye

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Training for information technology (IT) in healthcare has been identified as an important factor in the adoption of electronic health records (EHRs). The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act indicates that workforce training for information literacy is the foundation of EHR adoption and a key catalyst for the meaningful use of EHRs. A computer skills survey was administrated to three rural hospitals in South Carolina to investigate the computer competency and troubleshooting abilities of individual staff members and to determine whether hospital staff are comfortable enough with basic technology to use future EHRs effectively. While results showed that 73.5% of respondents were using EHRs in some part of their work, respondents could use more basic computer training in tasks beyond email and internet activity. Staff respondents were less confident with tasks such as software installation or connecting to printers and troubleshooting activities. In particular, respondents indicated that they had problems in recovering lost data or finding deleted files on a computer. Healthcare personnel with insufficient IT skills can hinder the ability of an organization to integrate EHRs into their daily routine and to achieve meaningful use of EHRs. One key suggestion is to identify local IT experts within the departments who can help bring others up-to-speed and foster more of a team mentality when transitioning to electronic records.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages3352-3361
Number of pages10
StatePublished - 2012
Event62nd IIE Annual Conference and Expo 2012 - Orlando, FL, United States
Duration: May 19 2012May 23 2012

Other

Other62nd IIE Annual Conference and Expo 2012
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityOrlando, FL
Period5/19/125/23/12

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

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