Informatics Needs Assessment

879 Words4 Pages
Informatics Needs Assessment Marie Bass HCS 482 Monday, July 22,2013 Jacqueline Sommerville Informatics Needs Assessment The informatics needs assessment is an important step in the selection and implementation of the Electronic Health Record (EHR). The purpose of a needs assessment is to understand the organization and the needs of the organization well enough to maximize the positive impact of an EHR while minimizing the risk of negative effects (American Medical Association, n.d). A readiness assessment will help identify an organizations readiness to successfully implement an EHR, the staffs readiness to accept, productively use the EHR. The results will help determine the present state of technology adoption, prerequisites for change, potential barriers, user needs, time-sensitive factors and appropriate action steps. Both the readiness and the needs assessment should involve everyone who will use the EHR or whose job will be affected by the implementation of the EHR. This includes clerical. and office staff, administrative staff, scheduling, and billing staff, physicians, nurses and computer support staff (Ginsberg, n.d). The needs assessment should include a vision for what the EHR means to the organization, an assessment of the current processes, workflows, data collection, reporting, and billing needs. An assessment of Internet capabilities, financial ability, clinical priorities, and specialy specific requirements. Assessment of staff computer abilities, knowledge, and attitudes toward the EHR ("How To Implement EHR'S", n.d). The AMA has developed a needs assessment checklist that includes integration with current processes, workflow features, interfaces, reporting needs, and technical configuration (American Medical Association, n.d). To obtain the data for the needs assessment a committee should be formed with all areas of the

More about Informatics Needs Assessment

Open Document