Specialist nurses’ experiences of using ‘The Viewer’, a consolidated electronic medical records system: a pre‐post implementation survey AUTHORS

Objective Evaluate changes in specialty areas nurses’ knowledge and perceptions of a consolidated electronic medical record (EMR) system before and after implementation. Design A survey deployed pre‐ and six months post‐implementation of ‘The Viewer’. Setting Regional Hospital and Health Service, Queensland. Subjects Nurses working in specialist areas including community health, palliative care, discharge planning, wound and stoma care, diabetes education and renal dialysis satellite services (n=110) were invited to participate in the study. Response rate of the pre‐implementation survey (n=42, 38%) was much higher than the post‐implementation subset (n=10, 24%). A major health service restructure that included losses of nursing positions in specialist areas significantly affected postimplementation results. Intervention An EMR system called ‘The Viewer’ to access consolidated electronic medical records of patient information produced by different parts of the organisation. Main Outcome Measures Changes in participants’ knowledge and perceptions of ‘The Viewer’, and their satisfaction with the quality, ease of use and access to patient information. Results Pre‐implementation, specialist nurses reported dissatisfaction with most aspects of the current patient information system but high confidence and comfort in using electronic systems. Post implementation satisfaction scores either remained the same or increased. Satisfaction with ease of access to consolidated patient data (U = 125.0, p = 0.038, r = 0.29) and usefulness of electronic systems (U = 115.0, p = 0.031, r = 0.30) increased significantly post-implementation of ‘The Viewer’. Conclusion Specialist nurses are positive about the possibilities EMRs offer to centralise, consolidate and improve access to patient data. AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING Volume 33 Issue 1 7 RESEARCH PAPER ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like thank and acknowledge Nursing Director, Education/Research at Queensland Health, Dr Jenny Sando, for her input into the original grant application and the Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation for the research grant that funded this study. INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW The implementation of new information and communication systems into health services and hospitals is inevitable; millions of nurses will experience such technology changes in their workplace during their careers (Huryk 2010). EMRs are being used widely in hospitals and healthcare services throughout the world to improve communication, centralise and consolidate patient data, and improve efficiency (Lee et al 2013; Rothman et al 2013; Creswick et al 2011). Introducing a records and communication system is complex and can lead to a significant shift in the way a nurse works. This workplace shift can affect outlook and attitudes and might lead to changes in the very culture of the workplace (Westbrook et al 2009). These technology‐driven changes to the health workplace have led researchers and managers to focus more attention on nursing informatics (Mills et al 2013). Two topics dominate the research literature into nursing informatics: nurses’ attitudes and/or perceptions of new information technology (Eley et al 2009; Edirippulige 2005; Axford and Carter 1995), and measurements of the impact of EMRs on workflow and healthcare service delivery (Perry et al 2013; Furukawa et al 2010; Wu et al 2006; Simpson 2005).