Electronic Health Records For Dummies

Computer and technical skills

Assessing how people feel and what you think each will do once you implement your EHR is well and good, but very little of that matters if you aren’t aware of the participants’ computer and technical skills. Not everyone in the office has to be as savvy as Bill Gates, but they should have a basic technical skill set.

When creating your technical assessment, find out whether anyone has EHR experience from a previous clinical setting, medical school, or residence training. If so, great! These individuals can ramp up fairly quickly and, most likely, already speak the EHR language. If you find no one has any EHR experience, no worries. You might have some initial conceptual and terminology issues to work through, however.

General Internet experience is a plus. These days, you’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone who hasn’t at least used the Internet to look up information or send e-mail. However, a Luddite or two may be floating around here and there; therefore, find out the level of Internet experience each potential EHR user already has. If, for example, they have ever purchased anything from a Web site, they are probably familiar with basic security issues, buttons, how to point and click, and wait times for information downloads. If users are familiar with online maps, they probably know how to use Web-based visual references. If they know how to use a social network, they will probably take to EHR communication features like a duck to water. Examining ...