Changes in Organizational Culture: Computerized Provider Order Entry at Emory Health Care - Term Paper Example

Changes in Organizational Culture: CPOE at Emory Health Care Changes in Organizational Culture: CPOE at Emory Health Care Computerized provider order entry (CPOE) systems are systems that practitioners in healthcare use to place orders for medications, laboratory tests and other services by attending physicians (Greenes, 2007, p. 42). This is a remarkably effective strategy that healthcare centers have adopted to minimize errors that would arise in the process of placing orders. The use of CPOE system’s has decreased medication ordering errors and redundant test ordering, promote practice standardization, and reduce overall healthcare costs. At this point, Hospitals with CPOE implemented in at least one inpatient service area are considered to be in Stage 4 of the HIMSS EMR adoption model, a level that a small percentage of USA hospitals have reached thus far. Despite the benefits and the pressure to comply with the meaningful use of EMR in hospitals, CPOE systems have yet to be widely accepted for several reasons. The reasons include the high cost of implementation, clinician resistance to technology, worry regarding practice disruption and loss of productivity, fear of technology failure, and the inability of some CPOE implementations to integrate well with existing healthcare systems (Bigelow, 2005, p. 22). In particular, embedding a CPOE system in a hospital information management implementation is a complex task that affects the work culture of the health care delivery institution as a whole. More specifically it affects the existing clinical workflows, and in some cases it leads to their drastic modifications. Components of generic CPOE system The main components of CPOE system include a user-interface design that the officials who are in charge of placing orders for the patients interact with when making orders (Greenes, 2007, p. 55). Various digital support tools and cogent communications systems provide the principal components that constitute the system. It should also have an exemplary storage space that will ensure that the management stores material correctly. This will minimize the chances of loss of data and valuable information. Potential benefits to a hospital system ensures that it reduces the errors that arise in the process of ordering drugs and redundant test ordering. This is because systems, which manage the, process of placing orders are less prone to errors. The process of ordering is also easy to execute and hence takes a short period. This saves time that employees would take on the orders. The CPOE system has also promoted practice standardization in the healthcare environment and thus ensures that all customers enjoy standardized services which (Mahar, 2006, p. 23). The system has proved to be efficient and worth adopting since it has contributed to reduction of overall costs in healthcare centers. Introduction of this system of placing orders relives a healthcare center the need to employ many employees who increase the costs of running the entities (Bigelow, 2005, p. 37). A center is also able to avoid various costs that employees experience on a daily basis. These costs include insurance policies premiums, and all the allowances that employees enjoy on a monthly basis. The machine also makes the process of placing an order tremendously easy. This is because the employees can determine the products that are available in the healthcare pharmacy without having to visit the pharmacy. This saves the patient’s time that they would spend awaiting employees to check whether various commodities are available. There is considerable push towards the adoption of CPOE systems in hospitals around the world. This is because; with the advancement in technology these systems have become basic. Hospitals have to ensure that they execute all their activities in a fashionable manner to avoid chances of errors and time wastage. Since the systems also save hospitals a lot of money that they spend in the process of management, they should be highly encouraged. Health is particularly vital in the society and hence should be taken seriously by each and every person. Hospitals should be among the best organizations that have substantial management. This is because health of each person is vital in the process of nation building. Productivity of a person depends entirely on their health status. The process of ordering medicines and other products should be extremely fast to ensure that the customers access medication in a short period (Mahar, 2006, p. 41). Clinical workflow refers to the sequence of various operations that start with clinical data, use various tools and models to end up with a treatment strategy or useful diagnostic index. The health practitioners can obtain it in practical situations by following various steps in the process of diagnosis. The concept of technology is tremendously vital in the process of determining clinical workflow. After the health professionals determine the problem that a patient suffers, they are able to determine the best medication that is necessary (Tomlinson and Hammaker, 2010, p. 15). They can adopt the CPOE system to ensure that they access the correct dosage within the given time frame. Some diseases demand immediate treatment, and hence doctors must act quickly to safe a patient. This is because some diseases are tremendously critical to the health of and individual and incase doctors do not attend to it immediately it may lead to complication. A CPOE system would be remarkably effective in the process of implementing a clinical workflow. This is because it makes the process of ordering various tools for diagnosis and medication exceptionally easy (Tan, 2005, p. 36). It ensures that the doctors’ access and the tools they need in time. This ensures that professionals deal with various complications that may arise responsibly and carry out treatment according to the expectations. Focus points for evaluating and improving CPOE implementations For Emory Healthcare to emerge with desired results on successful integration of CPOE in hospitals, they analyzed introducing a human-computer interaction interface. This interface provides the chance for the officials of the hospital to interact with the system. The interface has various aspects, which include screen design, login in, menus, report presentation, alarms and signals, portability, and friendliness (Block, 2009, p. 31). These aspects ensure sufficient communication between the two parties and hence enable them to achieve desired results. This system has enabled Emory Healthcare to achieve desirable results in the field of healthcare. It has enabled them to serve many customers who visit the center having various problems and complications. The system also has some drawback which disrupts workflow. This is because professionals designed some environments prior the computer error and hence do not accommodate new hardware. Other problem that might result with poor CPOE usability includes poor use of the available screen, a cluttered screen design, and inconsistencies in screen design (Mahar, 2006, p. 63). These provide some problems that Emory healthcare has suffered in the process of implementing the CPOE systems. A healthcare center should ensure that they adopt correct use appropriate safeguard. This will ensure that officials will not select the wrong patient or enter incorrect data into the system (Bigelow, 2005, p. 54). The system has also enabled them to change work pace, flow, sequence and dynamics. This is because the use of the system has made the process of delivery easy. The system has ensured that there is sustained communication, collaboration, workloads and various patterns of interaction among different professionals. It has also enabled the management to time orders in relation to the patient flow within the system. Depending on the number of patients who visit Emory, the management determines the required orders that they should make in a day (Tomlinson and Hammaker, 2010, p. 22). Emory ensured that it segregates the roles that clinical staff plays in the CPOE system like physician residents, nurses, pharmacists as well as clerical staff and other ancillary personnel. This has made the system tremendously effective and efficient. Segregation of duties is decidedly vital since it minimizes the chances of confusion in a system. Many employees do not crowd on one activity and hence there is no time wastage. It is tremendously vital for the nurses, pharmacists, and other clerical staff to assume various roles in the process of treating employees. This will minimize confusion that might arise in the treatment process and hence contribute to desired results. Healthcare delivery is a complex activity that demands expertise of various professionals. The effective distribution of roles that Emory adopt adds to the robustness of the health care system. The entire process of ordering of commodities to completion is tremendously effective if various healthcare professionalsenjoy a chance to execute various roles. This is because they have skill in different areas and hence should ensure that they give direction where their expertise is necessary (Andersen, 2008, p. 77). Lots of situation awareness, which leads to duplication of efforts or orders has also contributed towards successful implementation of the CPOE system in Emory healthcare. These systems improve the situation awareness through integrating with other systems and displaying the information that it acquires from these different sources. The various clinical decisions tools are remarkably effective since they alert on various potential problem that will go unnoticed (Andersen, 2008, p. 17). These problems include drug allergy interactions. They system has been singularly effective since it leads to discovery of various problems. It ensures that it meets the desired level of consistency to enhance situation awareness. Some of the drawback that exists with the implementation of this system is that there is a difference between established standards within provider practices and the CPOE systems. These have contributed confusion since the CPOE systems differ with the provider practices. There should be harmony between the two systems in terms of the standards that a healthcare center should meet. This is a drawback that has made implementation of a CPOE system at Emory to be a bit difficult. A healthcare center should ensure that there is a desired level of consistency in terms of standards. Emory has ensured that they have harmonized the standards and thus has been successful in the process of introducing a CPOE system that is efficient (Tomlinson and Hammaker, 2010, p. 55). It is true that people consider CPOE as one of the stumbling blocks within the HIMSS EMR adoption model. I think hospitals or clinics should adopt CPOE systems. When the management implements effectively, it is effective and will derive desirable goals of the healthcare center. CPOE should not be a stumbling block to the HIMSS EMR model if professionals implement it in the correct manner. The management should ensure the standards that the systems will achieve coincide with the standards of the organization. From the Emort implementation, we learn it is easy, beneficial, and vital to implement a CPOE system. This is because it has many benefits, as opposed to the drawbacks that will result. It will ensure that health practitioners undertake the process of placing orders in a terrifically effective way. This prevents errors that would arise in the process leading to incorrect medication. It also saves time that the professionals in the healthcare would spend (Tan, 2005, p. 77). The healthcare center determines the dosage that a hospital requires in a given period. This will enable the hospital to determine the level of stock to buy by analyzing the consumption on a regular basis. For the board of a hospital or a health institution seeking to implement a CPOE system, I would propose that this is a remarkably momentous step they are taking. They should implement this system so as to keep pace with the advancement in technology (Block, 2009, p. 54). The management introduces the system to avoid all complications that would arise in the process of ordering various products in the healthcare environment. The boards should ensure that they oversee the process of implementation to ensure that the people responsible for the implementation effect it efficiently. Various issues, which results as, drawbacks should be given concern to ensure that they are minimal. This will result in an exemplary system that will ensure that healthcare centers are effective in terms of the services they offer to the patients. References Goldstein, D. 1996. Building and Managing Effective Physician Organizations Under Capitation. Jones & Bartlett Learning Tan, J. 2005. E-health Care Information Systems: An Introduction For Students And Professionals. John Wiley & Sons Block, D. 2009. Healthcare Stewardship. IUniverse Tomlinson, S., Hammaker, D. 2010. Health Care Management and the Law: Principles and Applications. Cengage Learning Mahar, M. 2006. Money Driven Medicine: The Real Reason Health Care Costs So Much. Collins Bigelow, J. 2005. Analysis of Healthcare Interventions That Change Patient Trajectories. Rand Corporation Andersen, S. 2008. EHealth Beyond the Horizon: Get IT There : Proceedings of MIE2008, the XXIst International Congress of the European Federation for Medical Informatics. IOS Press Greenes, A. R. 2007. Clinical Decision Support: The Road Ahead. Academic Press Read More