Advocate for the involvement of doctors and nurses in IT decisions

Daniel O’Connor, RN, was something you don’t see every day: a CIO who was also a nurse. This gives him a unique perspective when it comes to involving physicians in healthcare IT – a topic that is of great importance to him.

O’Connor is vice president of customer experience at HCTec, a healthcare IT staffing and managed services company. Previously, he served as vice president at Stoltenburg Consulting, CIO at United Memorial Medical Center and clinical information systems manager at University of Rochester Medical Center.

We interviewed O’Connor and talked about what it was like to be a CIO who was a nurse, why he thinks it’s so important to physicians involved in healthcare IT teams, differences between physicians and nurses involved in IT teams, best practices for involving physicians in helpdesk support, and tips on how CIOs who formally hire a physician or nurse for their IT team want to hire, the costs can justify these expensive doctors.

Q. What was it like being a CIO who was a nurse? How has your clinical background influenced your IT decision making?

A. Understanding the IT nuances and challenges across all healthcare systems operations requires a deep understanding of technology. However, it’s just as important to understand what happens every day within the facilities you serve, and all the nuances that employees experience and their IT needs.

As a CIO with a nursing background, it has given me and my organization clarity about what these systems need and how they need support. As an RN, I understand the need for quick responses and solutions that provide perspective and an understanding of the physicians’ needs, communicated to them on the same level.

Advocating for your system by involving physicians in IT teams provides clinical insight, empathy, and practical knowledge that significantly informs and improves IT decision-making. This unique perspective ensures that technology implementations align with clinical practice, leading to better patient care, higher provider satisfaction and more successful IT initiatives.

Q. Why do you think it is so important for physicians to be involved in healthcare IT teams? What impact can they have on things like implementation, training, application support, service desks, etc.?

A. Physicians bring insights, expertise and credibility to healthcare IT teams. Their involvement ensures that systems are practical and support clinical workflows and patient care. By being involved in implementation, training, support and service desk activities, physicians help maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of EHR investments, ultimately leading to better patient outcomes and higher provider satisfaction.

Involve them every aspect of the EHR is important during system development, implementation, upgrades and helpdesk support. You only have one chance to get it right during new system deployments or major upgrades. If you don’t succeed on the first try, providers will question the investment and adoption will decline.

Having people who understand the processes and how providers interact with the EHR in each use case is critical to its success. For example, peer-to-peer support is especially important when you take a system live. Go-live experiences fit providers’ perspectives on a system. And as new residents and caregivers come in, experienced physicians serve as seasoned champions to help physicians with usability and workflow.

Q. Are there differences between involving doctors and nurses in IT teams? If so, what are they, and what does each bring to the table?

A. Yes, there are nuances to peer-to-peer clinical support for every profession. Each group brings unique perspectives, expertise and strengths that can significantly benefit the development, implementation and support of healthcare IT systems. For example, nurses have completely different workflows and ways of documenting. Nurses need to be involved in both teaching and supporting colleagues as they bring up the system and support it over time.

Nursing Documentation Requirements: Must have good order entry routes and the ability to easily access order groups based on patient problems. Correlated information should be sent to the doctor to speed up the work. Additionally, integration with telemetry and all other data collection systems speeds up nursing documentation.

Providers’ time is harder to come by. IT teams must be fully prepared and use doctors’ and nurses’ time effectively. Efficiency is another valuable strategy to gain continued support from them. Both are equally important given the differences in how they are practiced.

By leveraging the strengths of both physicians and nurses, healthcare organizations can create more effective, efficient, and user-centric healthcare IT systems that ultimately lead to better patient outcomes and outcomes. higher satisfaction among both doctors and nurses.

Q. What are your best practices for involving physicians in helpdesk support, and why are they important here?

A. Include physicians on teams to ensure end users have access to a broad group of experts who understand how the EHR is used in different clinical scenarios. Whether you do this internally or use external support, make sure you aim for the highest customer satisfaction score and know what it takes to maintain it.

Doctors want EHR problems to be resolved as quickly as possible. Whether the person calling is a healthcare technician, nurse or doctor, patient care is priority number 1 The criticality of the acute care environment must be recognized.

Use metrics that include two criteria:

1. Can we help clinical end users?

2. Are we able to do it in a way that is helpful, understanding and supportive when they are already upset?

If you use third-party support services, make sure the model reflects how a healthcare system delivers its support services. For example, do not use people and services from other sectors or environments. Support teams should be staffed by people who understand and are passionate about healthcare.

Q: Are there any tips on how CIOs who want to formally hire a doctor or nurse for their IT team can justify these expensive doctors?

A. By presenting clear, data-driven arguments and aligning physician engagement with organizational goals, CIOs can effectively justify hiring physicians or nurses for their IT teams. These physicians bring expertise that can lead to significant improvements in clinical outcomes, operational efficiency and financial performance.

To further justify this important investment, you need to demonstrate the value that IT nurses and physicians can bring in your CFO’s language. It is always important to build in an ROI model with hard numbers and cost-benefit scenarios both ways – with and without these experts on the IT team. Show what a quality support model with both tangible and intangible impacts will do to the bottom line.

Plus, don’t be shy about talking about numbers up front. Frame nurses and physicians joining the IT team as an investment, not an expense.

Follow Bill’s HIT coverage on LinkedIn: Bill Siwicki
Email him: bsiwicki@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.