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This series, written by me, the somewhat anonymous "Tech Talk Nurse" - offers a venue for my fellow nurses, nurse informaticists, physicians, CIOs and other clinicians to bridge nursing and IT in a time of rapid healthcare change. I'll share my nursing experiences with healthcare IT, and will often share the blogging stage with colleagues who also would like to share theirs. Anonymity is not required! Let's continue the conversation at HITR.com - a new affiliate of Billian's HealthDATA that offers healthcare providers and vendors healthcare IT benchmarking and social networking opportunities. Feel free to join the Nurse Tech Talk group on HITR.com as well! Interested in guest blogging? Connect and let's talk! 

So your EMR is live and in place. Now comes the real challenge: How do you keep nurses engaged with ongoing training when they work long hours and need to get home to families and other responsibilities? Based on my nursing experience, I've learned that an enhanced end-user experience post implementation leads to increased adoption of the EMR application, and helps to avoid user errors. To keep fresh in EMR use, nurses need post competencies and check-offs that will fit into their workflow and diverse schedules. 

Engage the Staff I asked Michele Burk, RN CPON, MSN, Clinical Transformation Program Manager at Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children's Medical Center in New York, what she has found to be most effective in keeping nurses engaged and competent. "Having quick, repetitive education sessions, keeping lines of communication open, following up on the issues brought forth at go-live and circling back around with them once a resolution or update is available has been key," she says. "Giving them the specifics about the program that can make their life easier - the tricks of the trade, so to speak - has been helpful.  These specifics are too much to absorb during the go-live period." 

Source: Billian's HealthDATA