Abstract
Aim: To understand nurses' opportunities and challenges when transitioning to an electronic health record (EHR) system. The purpose is to identify strategies and approaches that may enhance the implementation of EHR for nurses.
Background: The current healthcare environment is challenged by the fast-growing digital health technologies and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Nurses must quickly adapt to developing digital practices, especially implementing the EHR in daily nursing practice. Few studies have explored nurses' experiences during the digital transformation in New Zealand, especially in a private healthcare setting where public patients are also contracted for care.
Methods: A descriptive qualitative study was used to explore nurses' experience of EHR transition in a private healthcare setting. Purposive sampling recruited 11 staff nurses from two day-stay facilities (DSF) in a local private hospital.
Results: Regardless of which medium was used for documentation, nurses preferred a tool that was user-friendly and easily accessible with the ability to reflect their knowledge and practice safely. The most relevant institution-specific finding was the "foreign language" reality between nursing and IT, which indicated that the implementation of EHR needs to be robustly prepared with the required hardware and user-friendly interface for nurses. Additionally, quality staff attendance with ongoing EHR education is recommended. Importantly, involving nurses in developing a meaningful system platform, reducing duplication practice to increase work performance, and working towards a standardised documentation system is recommended.
Conclusions: The study findings provide resourceful, institution-specific information. The identified nurses' EHR-related strengths and weaknesses could assist future organisational EHR development and utilise the resource needed, enhancing nurses' documentation experience.