3 Steps to EHR Training for New Staff Members

Taryn Tawoda - Tuesday, June 19th, 2012

An American Medical News report discussed three phases of training for new staff members on the use of electronic health records.

Begin with basic training. Basic training occurs during the first day on the job when new employees learn what the system looks like, where they go to accomplish certain tasks and what kind of functionality the system has to offer. Employees should be shown what tasks are accomplished on the EHR and what tasks are not.
Implement two-way shadowing during patient encounters. It is recommended that a new employee follow a more experienced employee for at least one day to give the new hire a sense of how the EHR fits within the practice workflow. After shadowing, the roles should be reversed. The trainer should look for potential problems and point out shortcuts and tips to the new employee.
After several days of training, the employee should be allowed to work independently. Most new clinicians should be prepared work alone on the system after no more than a week of training, but it is important to have as many experienced users as possible surrounding the new employee.