In today’s healthcare environment, clinicians spend a significant amount of time in the electronic health record coordinating patient care. Care teams collaborate and take detailed notes to paint a comprehensive picture of a patient’s history, clinical course and care plan.
However, many EHRs are accessed largely by desktop or laptop computers, which presents a challenge for clinicians who are often on the go. Fortunately, smartphone use in the acute care environment has become more widespread, providing clinicians with easier access to clinical documentation and data at the point of care.
Scaling an EHR platform to mobile devices allows users to move efficiently through the hospital, quickly make changes to a patient’s care plan, instantly contact care team members and reduce the physical and cognitive burden on clinicians. In particular, clinical applications designed for mobile devices that focus on communication and collaboration are the most affective because they extend the usability of the EHR, and this can mitigate burnout and fatigue.
To help providers make the most of their EHR, healthcare organizations should look for these qualities when considering a mobile communication platform.
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1. Improves Interoperability and Integrations
There are plenty of clinical communication applications in the healthcare market, but the key to extending your EHR is to choose a communication solution that prioritizes interoperability and essential integrations.
Beyond other important capabilities, such as sending nurse call alerts and transmitting critical lab results to clinicians, the ability to integrate the EHR and the clinical communication platform will expand the reach of your organization’s infrastructure.
LEARN MORE: Follow these tips to integrate your EHR with clinical communication tools.
2. Fosters Collaboration Among Care Teams
In practice, integrating your organization’s EHR with your clinical communication platform can promote care team collaboration by making dynamic data more accessible to users. For instance, real-time care team information allows clinicians direct access to other members of a patient’s care team. The data can be pulled from the EHR or the nurse call system as staff assignments are noted within the respective applications and are quickly synced. Also, any critical lab values displayed in the EHR can be pulled by the clinical communication platform and sent as an alert to the patient’s care team.
Every healthcare organization has unique workflows, which require a flexible, collaborative platform that can be tailored to support specific needs across different teams, units and facilities.”
3. Is Easy to Use and Streamlines Workflows
The primary goal of this integration technology is to make care team collaboration easier for clinicians; for example, by providing seamless one-tap calling from the EHR. The ability to launch communication capabilities directly from the EHR enhances care coordination by quickly and easily connecting clinicians. This integration makes the calling process as smooth and simple as possible.
Every healthcare organization has unique workflows, which require a flexible, collaborative platform that can be tailored to support specific needs across different teams, units and facilities.
UP NEXT: EHR optimization can improve clinical workflows.
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