Healthcare Technology Changing Forever: Positive Planning

My facility is in the process of shifting from an all paper ED to a full blown computerized ED. I, as the clinical information specialist will be doing a lot of training and helping to make things run smoothly.

I'm sure it's no surprise that there have already been plenty of negative comments about this upcoming venture. I've combatted several remarks of, "that'll never work or Oh that's gonna take forever."

I've bragged up all the positive testimonials from other hospitals that are already utilizing the same software. I'm sure there have probably been some eyes rolled as I turned my back, but I've been working on starting this change out on a positive foot (and I have big feet) from the very beginning.

I believe these next several months will be crucial to making our go-live a positive experience. I plan to keep a positive attitude about all these changes, because really there's not a whole lot we can do to stop technology from advancing.

I plan to be available to anyone struggling or needing a little one on one time for learning, because I know we have some REALLY great nurses that are just not that computer savvy and I don't mean just the older nurses!

I want everyone to start out feeling confident and knowing they WILL be able to do this.

I will be available to listen to what their concerns are and see what we can do to improve areas that are under our control. The communication between all staff will be critical during this time of adjustment.

I plan to have a clear outline of just how everything will play out. One thing I will have to constantly remind myself of is to be patient!

I'm not always the most patient teacher, so when I start thinking, "why do they NOT get this," I will remind myself that I too have struggled to adapt to changes.

When the go-live is over and everyone is functioning on their own I'll look back at how far we've come. I'm sure there will be some mistakes made along the way, but we will look back at those mistakes and learn from them. The next time we will know just a little more about what works best because there's no denying that this will not be our last "go live."