Specialist nurses’ experiences of using ‘the viewer’, a consolidated electronic medical records system: A pre-post implementation survey

Objective Evaluate changes in specialty areas nurses’ knowledge and perceptions of a consolidated electronic medical record (EMR) system before and after implementation. Design A survey deployed pre-and six months post-implementation of ‘The Viewer’. Setting Regional Hospital and Health Service, Queensland. Subjects Nurses working in specialist areas including community health, palliative care, discharge planning, wound and stoma care, diabetes education and renal dialysis satellite services (n=110) were invited to participate in the study. Response rate of the pre-implementation survey (n=42, 38%) was much higher than the post-implementation subset (n=10, 24%). A major health service restructure that included losses of nursing positions in specialist areas significantly affected post-implementation results. Intervention An EMR system called ‘The Viewer’ to access consolidated electronic medical records of patient information produced by different parts of the organisation. Main Outcome Measures Changes in participants’ knowledge and perceptions of ‘The Viewer’, and their satisfaction with the quality, ease of use and access to patient information. Results Pre-implementation, specialist nurses reported dissatisfaction with most aspects of the current patient information system but high confidence and comfort in using electronic systems. Post implementation satisfaction scores either remained the same or increased. Satisfaction with ease of access to consolidated patient data (U = 125.0, p = 0.038, r = 0.29) and usefulness of electronic systems (U = 115.0, p = 0.031, r = 0.30) increased significantly post-implementation of ‘The Viewer’. Conclusion Specialist nurses are positive about the possibilities EMRs offer to centralise, consolidate and improve access to patient data.