Students nursing during EMR go-live

[jappey17]

Hi all,

I am an educator in an acute care 400+ bed hospital. We will be going live with our electronic system in September 2012. I also coordinate nursing students. Our hospital wants to NOT have any students during go-live, however, I believe differently. I think student nurses may serve as extra hands to do basic things e.g. passing out water, bringing linen into the room, providing baths to the patients etc. While nurses are learning (we are paying lot of attention to training btw) and dealing with the new system, students can be extra hands.

I want to know if any hospitals have allowed nursing students during go-live and how did it go? What strategies were used, was there a limitation on how many students were allowed, what semester students were allowed. I will take whatever information I can get.

Above all, how did it go for the bedside staff? Were the students any help or a burden? Any feedback is appreciated.

Thank you,

Jaspreet

[eatmysoxRN, ASN, RN]

I am not experienced in this whatsoever, but I agree with you that students could provide extra staffing that would allow nurses to have more time to experience the system. Just my 2 cents :)

[klone, MSN, RN]

IIRC, our "go live" was done over Labor Day weekend (intentionally over that weekend to minimize volume) so we did not have nursing students.

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

It's not a bad idea to have the students there to do some 'basic' things...passing water, fluffing beds, etc. However, I'm not sure the nursing school is going to be thrilled having there students there for a "no patient care" clinical day. Would the school still have to provide a clinical instructor for these students?

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

In the hospital where I did clinicals, all nursing students were required to take the electronic charting training course for the facility. It just so happened that we took the training after some new updates had been installed, but before they were installed on the hospital's computers. So when it came time for the update, some of the nursing students were actually able to help the nurses with the new system.

If you require nursing students to be trained on the system prior to doing their clinicals, I think the students (who are typically younger and more technology savvy) might actually be able to assist the more senior nurses (who are used to paper charting) during the go-live transition. I don't recommend specifically asking them to help, of course, but it's an example of how students might be less of a burden during that time than originally thought.

I think it would be fine to allow the students, provided that the clinical instructors are aware of the situation. It really should be the clinical instructor's job to supervise the students anyway- not the staff nurses. Simply explain to the clinical instructors that you are going live with the EMR from X to Y dates, and the staff nurses will be less available to help students. Explain that the students may still be assigned patients, but may not be partnered with a nurse. The student may communicate with the nurse prior to the clinical and perform basic patient care and nursing skills as the primary nurse permits, but the clinical instructor is responsible for supervising these tasks. To avoid errors and reduce confusions, students should not be allowed to give medications and will not have access to the documentation system during these times.

[roser13, ASN, RN]

We're about to go live with our EMR. My gut reaction to the idea of adding student nurses to the floor count is "OMG! 5 or 6 (or however many) more bodies on the floor!" If your training is proceeding as ours is, your floor will already contain X number of additional personnel who are there to support the medical staff in their initial EMR efforts. Having nursing students (no matter how helpful) add to the floor count of walking, talking bodies just seems unwieldly to me. Plus I wonder how the clinical instructors would feel about a clinical day that only involved fetch & carry tasks for the students. Something tells me that wouldn't fly.

[TakeTwoAspirin, MSN, RN, APRN]

I have been throught his twice! It is not fun and the stress levels will be off the charts for everyone. During neither of the go-live events did we allow students to be on the floors. It simply isn't fair on them or the nurses. Even under the supervision of a clinical instructor I don't know any nurse who completely absolves themselves of responsibility for their patient on the day a student is with them. It's just another (albeit small) distraction for the nurses on a day when they don't need it. What we have done in both of the facilities where we have switched to EMR is get agency (read highly experienced) nurses in to supplement the staffing during the transition. Usually, the agency nurses were required to be competent on the new system before arriving, so they were familiar with the system already and could facilitate either training/coaching or complete patient care while our nurses were cut a little slack.

[tcvnurse, BSN, RN]

Sounds like a good idea in theory, but in practice...When my hospital when live with EPIC last year it was a horror. Having students around underfoot and trying to deal with them too. I don't know. I don't think it would have been a good thing, just an extra stressor. Just my opinion.

[wooh, BSN, RN]

Students are an added stress. As a general rule, the help they provide is a LOT less than the help they require. (Cue the litany of nursing students to come tell us how they do all the nurse's work for them and don't even get paid for it!)

The students won't get a good day of education.

The nurses will already be frazzled enough without another distraction.

[Oppon262]

Students are an added stress. As a general rule, the help they provide is a LOT less than the help they require. (Cue the litany of nursing students to come tell us how they do all the nurse's work for them and don't even get paid for it!)

The students won't get a good day of education.

The nurses will already be frazzled enough without another distraction.

Well hello negative nancy.

[wooh, BSN, RN]

How many computer charting implementations or upgrades have you experienced as a floor nurse Oppon?

Why don't you share how well they went to counter my experiences?

[Oppon262]

I found your post to be a bit snarky. While I agree with you that students (as I was one, and just graduated) can sometimes get in nurses way. I found your post to be a little snarky, like I stated.