Achieving Success with Your EHR

The right EHR can make all the difference in the world. But as many know, different functions use the same EHR solution for a variety of tasks, which makes customization key to your success. We recently spoke with Rebecca Logue, a Clinical Software Specialist, with Midwest Health to hear why customization is a must have for any senior care facility. 

First off, what is a Clinical Software Specialist?

In 2012, Rebecca was a RNBSN who started out as an CNA CMA, then she also got her LPN and an RN. All those acronyms mean 2 things. 1) She is a highly skilled individual who has an extensive amount of experience and 2) she isn’t afraid to take on a new challenge!

Back then, the field of Clinical Software Specialization was still pretty new but when her organization decided they need to utilize a full EHR, Rebecca was excited to take on the new position before it became an established role for nurses. “It has been an interesting journey building the program from the start and being the one to see it through.”

Understanding clinical workflows

Since the role was so new, Rebecca didn’t have a lot of support or resources to help her out in the beginning. “Now there are a lot of resources for Clinical Software Specialists as the role has become essential to facilities, but back in 2012, there wasn’t a lot of support in getting the function off the ground. Our only support was from IT professionals, and since it was so new, they didn’t fully understand the clinical workflows yet and we needed to work together to ensure the software was supporting us, not the other way around.” But she says throughout her journey she learned how important this role is for a facility and the success of an EHR. “To have a successful EHR you really need a clinician involved because they are the ones who understand the workflows and know how things get done on the floor.”

Utilizing an EHR

For any type of software, Rebecca says that customization is key to the successful implementation and utilization. “A software should not be a one-size-fits-all, because we all use it in different ways and have specific goals we want to achieve. We all do things differently; we have various workflows and rules and regulations across the country to consider. All of these things need to be adaptable in your EHR, or it won’t be successful.”

For the staff at Midwest Health, the ability to customize the tasks and assessments in the PointClickCare EHR makes daily tasks more efficient and timelier. “We use tasks a lot in both SL and SNF as a nursing intervention. For example, if we want to give someone a snack because we can see that they are losing weight, we don’t need to go back to the doctor and ask to give them a protein cookie, we can just log it in as a task and do it right then and there. With PointClickCare, its easy to customize the tasks and make them fit the resident’s needs. The assessments are also really amazing because you can make the assessment do whatever you want it to do.”

Her community of support   

Now that Clinical Software Specialists are a common role in facilities, Rebecca has found that she has a community of support she can rely on, especially in PointClickCare’s customer portal, the Pulse. “I was excited to utilize the Pulse community and learn how others have been using the solution. For example, during the COVID-19 outbreaks, I decided to check in the Pulse to see if anyone else had posted anything for creating a COVID-19 results assessment. After I saw the tips other were providing, I was able to easily create a customized assessment that listed all of our COVID-19 items. It really helped us to stay organized because we were able to see who was recently tested, who had tests pending, who has had a confirmed case.”

Thanks for sharing, Rebecca!