The introduction of the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) was a transformative change for all staff delivering inpatient, emergency, surgical and maternity care. It takes time to embed the new way of working and juggling the demands of patient care, and it was timely to conduct a pulse check with staff via a survey.

Thank you to 371 staff who completed the EMR pulse check. Seventy five per cent of respondents were from Northern Hospital Epping, 12 per cent from Broadmeadows Hospital, nine per cent from Bundoora Centre, and the remainder from Craigieburn or worked across sites. Seventy per cent of respondents were using the EMR daily and 26 per cent a few times a week.

Overall, our staff have given the EMR three stars.

‘Thank you to those staff who took the time to fill out the survey, it was a good result to receive a positive rating from staff. Noting we are only at the beginning of leveraging the EMR for patient care at Northern Health not at the end,” said Trish Aldridge, EMR Program Director.

Using the EMR is more than a new skill, it is a whole change in the way we document and communicate about patient care processes.

• 82 per cent of staff feel more confident in using the EMR, than when it first went live.
• 71 per cent of staff were able to use the EMR for patient care (19 per cent neither agreed nor disagreed).
• 75 per cent of staff felt either neutral or positive about the EMR.
• 43 per cent of staff would like more training to use the EMR.

Overall, the survey results reflect are what is expected at such an early stage of embedding new work flows.

‘The EMR team is looking forward to partnering with our divisions and departments to improve the EMR,” said Ms Aldridge.

“The EMR team is designing business as usual processes and recruiting the team for this work. Our advice to staff who want to continue to develop their efficiency in using the EMR, reach out to your super users and educators, ask questions, check out the QRGs for workflows you don’t do that often.”

The Digital Training team are available for EMR refreshers, please email your requests to NH-EMRQuestions@nh.org.au.