EMR Adoption Challenges and Mitigation Strategies in Healthcare

This report delves into the adoption of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) within healthcare settings, specifically focusing on an 800-bed tertiary teaching hospital. It identifies key barriers to EMR implementation, including healthcare provider acceptance, high adoption costs, system inadequacies, lack of skilled workforce, and resource limitations. The report emphasizes the importance of change management practices to overcome these obstacles. Furthermore, it proposes various mitigation strategies such as stakeholder involvement, robust change management and communication, training programs, technological investments, strong leadership, organization-based system design, and alignment with organizational goals. The analysis highlights the potential of EMR to improve patient safety, quality of care, and clinical practice, while acknowledging the need to address the barriers for effective implementation. The report concludes by reiterating the significance of EMR in healthcare transformation and the necessity of adopting these mitigation measures for successful integration.

Running head: ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORD 1
Electronic Medical Record
Name
Institutional Affiliation

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Electronic Medical Record
Introduction
Electronic medical records (EMR) represents "an electronic record of health-related
information on an individual that can be created, gathered, managed, and consulted by authorized
clinicians and staff within one healthcare organization" (Chang & Gupta, 2015). EMR further
serves as one of the key developments in healthcare settings which have substantial benefits to
physicians, clinical practices, and healthcare organizations. Besides, EMR improves patient care
by enhancing communication between multiple healthcare providers and the patients, reduces the
risk of medical errors and promotes safe practice (Palabindala, Pamarthy & Jonnalagadda, 2016).
In this regard, the associated positive effects of EMR in healthcare settings is profound.
However, the adoption of the technology and effective integration in practice both primary care
setting and hospitals experience significant challenges. However, healthcare can adopt different
change management practices to mitigate against major barriers to the adoption of EMR. The
report will explore the adoption of EMR in an existing 800-bed tertiary teaching hospital based
on the possible barriers and effective approaches to mitigate the barriers or ensure integration in
healthcare practice.
Possible Barriers to EMR Adoption
EMR adoption in healthcare setting requires effective change management approaches
since it's based on changing healthcare practices thus high chances of experiencing barriers.
Some of the possible barriers to effective adoption of EMR involves the acceptance barrier by
the healthcare providers primarily healthcare professionals with little or less knowledge on the
use of the technology. Acceptance barrier serves as the greatest challenge of EMR adoption
which creates the need for the healthcare leaders to have effective change management practices

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(Hamid & Cline, 2013). Acceptance challenge is also more common when the healthcare
stakeholders are not involved in the decision regarding the adoption of EMR. According to
Ajami & Bagheri-Tadi (2013), the majority of the healthcare professionals having acceptance
issues are influenced by the perception towards EMR and poor understanding of the role and
operation of the technology in healthcare practice.
Another possible barrier to EMR adoption involves the overall cost of adoption.
According to Khalifa (2013), EMR requires healthcare organizations to make significant
investments in purchasing the EMR system as well as training the healthcare providers on the
effective use of the system in order to achieve the maximum benefits. Besides, the adoption of
the system creates the need for the healthcare organizations to invest in information technology
resources which increases the overall costs of full adoption of the system. The associated costs of
adoption are significantly high which serves as a possible barrier to EMR adoption primarily
among healthcare organizations that are not well funded (Ajami & Arab-Chadegani, 2013).
The inability of the EMR system to meet the healthcare organization needs or fit its
purpose can also serve as a key barrier to effective adoption. EMR is expected to solve key
problems in healthcare settings such as communication between different healthcare providers in
regards to patient care or ensure efficient access to patient information. However, in situations
where the designed EMR does not fit its purpose, there is a possibility of experiencing barriers or
challenges. Additionally, the ability of the ability of the system to integrate with other existing
electronic system or healthcare practices can lead to barriers creating the need to adopt systems
that are flexible and can be easily integrated with different systems within the healthcare settings
(Esquivel, Sittig, Murphy & Singh, 2012). The aspect is common when the system design fails to
include the clinical processes and workflow. As an 800-bed tertiary teaching hospital the

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adoption of EMR is critical; however, the possibility of challenges are high due to the number of
clinical practices and systems that must be integrated to achieve positive outcomes. As such, the
inability of the system to effectively address the key clinical practices and systems serves as a
key barrier to adoption.
Another significant barrier involves the lack of skilled workforce and resources that can
ensure continued support for the system. Majority of the healthcare providers lack the necessary
skills to effectively adopt new technologies which create concerns when such systems are
introduced in healthcare settings. Besides, the majority of the care providers have concerns about
the system becoming obsolete which limits their support or acceptance of the EMR system. The
key barriers demonstrate that healthcare organizations require effective leadership and the need
to demonstrate the importance of EMR's in transforming healthcare functions such as safety,
quality, and care efficiency. Different mitigation measures can be adopted prior to the adoption
of the system to enhance the success rate in the implementation process (Granlien & Hertzum,
2012).
Mitigation to Overcome the Barriers & Effectiveness in Real World
It's evident that EMR adoption is likely to face key barriers, however, different
approaches can be adopted to mitigate and overcome the barriers. The first key approach
involves the inclusion of all the stakeholders in decision-making regarding the implementation of
the EMR system. Healthcare organizations should engage its stakeholders to educate them on the
need for the system as well as seek their opinion. The approach plays a significant role in
enhancing the support for the system during the adoption or implementation stage (Hamid &
Cline, 2013). Besides, the approach is effective in reducing the negative perception in real-world
implementations which influence the healthcare providers decision to reject the systems.

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Additionally, the approach is deemed effective since it increases the feelings of inclusion in
decision-making as well a motivating the healthcare providers. Additionally, McGinn et al.,
(2011) notes that engaging the stakeholders provides the opportunity to clear doubts on the
system, present its key components and demonstrates its advantage towards improving the
healthcare practice thus achieving greater support.
The second key mitigation approach involves establishing a strong change management
and communication strategy within the healthcare institution. The approach is critical in
preparing the healthcare staff for changes in the clinical practice. Additionally, the
communication strategy is effective in communicating the need for the system to the healthcare
setting as well as its key components. Change management helps adopt an effective strategy to
enhance the acceptance to change by creating an implementation strategy or support levels based
on different leadership levels in the healthcare settings (Neumeier, 2013). The approach further
helps focus attention on the positive effects of EMR to the healthcare practices rather than the
associated costs, skills or resources. As such it contributes in shaping the healthcare
professionals perception or negative attitude towards the system.
Another key mitigation measure involves establishing training and development program
for the EMR users to enhance their chances of fully using the system to achieve the maximum
benefits. Training is critical in reducing the barriers associated with lack of knowledge and skills
on EMR among the healthcare providers. In real life situations, the case is evident since the
majority of the healthcare professionals lack the technical knowledge to adopt the system which
influences their resistance towards change (Esquivel, Sittig, Murphy & Singh, 2012). However,
the healthcare organization investment on training and development empowers the workers
ensures knowledge required to effectively use the system. Another key mitigation approach

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involves enhancing the healthcare settings investments in technology. The approach helps in
addressing the resources challenge and ensures the healthcare settings have the necessary
resources necessary to fully adopt the system such as communication systems (El Mahalli,
2015). Besides, resources help in the continued maintenance of the EMR in the healthcare setting
as well as providing the users with continued support. The approach is effective in real-world
implementations such as the healthcare setting with 800 beds suggesting that it serves a large
number of patients. In this regard, accessing each patients records is challenging creating the
need for the EMR system and the key resources such as computers, servers, and networking tools
among others. The approach further translates to safe healthcare practice as well as the
improvement in the quality of care provided to patients (Souther, 2012).
Strong leadership in the healthcare organization can also help in mitigating the barriers as
well as supporting full adoption of the system. Leadership promotes the chances of resolving
issues or problems as well as addressing key setbacks that affect the timely implementation of
the system such as financial resources. Effective leadership further help in communicating the
need for EMR and have better chances of influencing support from other healthcare
professionals (Kruse et al., 2015). Strong leadership also helps in advocating support for the
EMR as the solution to a broad range of healthcare challenges such as medical errors. Another
key approach involves the design of an organization-based system that is based on addressing the
specific needs of the healthcare system. Such an approach is critical since it ensures the inclusion
of all the clinical practices and user needs thus promoting the overall implementation process.
Besides, it ensures the system is flexible with the changing nature of the organizational needs.
The approach is effective in real-world situations since healthcare organizations vary in size or

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the number of patients served suggesting that a universal system may be ineffective (Devkota &
Devkota, 2014).
Another key mitigation measure involves shaping the EMR to align with the
organizational goals and priorities such as patient safety and quality of care. The aspect helps in
communicating the positive impact of adopting EMR as part of the patient safety improvement.
Additionally, the approach helps address the public concern on patient safety primarily in the
current world characterized by increasing cases of medical errors and patient safety challenges.
The aspect is also critical in real-world situations since it ensures operation in accordance with
the existing laws or policies in the healthcare system (Esquivel, Sittig, Murphy & Singh, 2012).
Conclusion
The review presents the notion that EMR is critical in healthcare settings since it impacts
positively on patient safety, quality of care and clinical practice. However, the effective adoption
of EMR in healthcare settings has significant barriers that limit its effectiveness. Some of the key
barriers involve acceptance by the key stakeholders, overall costs, and resources required,
technical skills and perception towards the system. However, different mitigation measures have
been put forward and can also be adopted in a real world situation where they have demonstrated
effectiveness. Some of the mitigation measures include strong leadership in the healthcare
organizations, the inclusion of all the stakeholders in decision-making, proper change
management and communication in regards to the system need. Additionally, the creation of
EMR that is specific to the healthcare organization needs can also help in achieving positive
outcomes. EMR is deemed effective in enhancing clinical practice leading to reduced cases of
errors, promoting the quality of care and enhancing patient safety.

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