HIMSS MN Networking and Learning Event 

Abstract:

Electronic Health Record (EHR) clinical knowledge libraries, including Clinical Decision Support (CDS) content, are powerful tools that can be leveraged to drive standardized, high value and highly reliable care. When managed correctly, a healthy clinical knowledge library can be a strategic asset for any healthcare organization. To ensure that CDS tools are impactful and driving the desired outcomes, the entire lifecycle of the standardized clinical processes must be measured, evaluated and managed.

Clinical alerts can be effective in driving clinician users to greater standardization and adherence to key organizational initiatives by prompting them to do the right thing at the right time. But alerts can also have the opposite effect. Most healthcare organizations are concerned about the impact of alert fatigue on their quality initiatives. The overuse of ineffective alerts can cause too much noise in the delivery of clinical care, leading clinicians to wholesale dismissal of alerts which could result in patient harm.

Organizations find they have multiple order sets and orderables in place for a given initiative, which also leads to unnecessary variation in care. Clinician custom orders, modifications of order sets and following historical patterns of care causes additional variation. To drive standardization and remove variance, it is crucial to limit the places within the EHR where variation can take place.

In this session, Dr. Brita Hansen and Dr. Tori Christiaansen will discuss strategies to better evaluate and manage your clinical content library. They will also discuss the importance of sustained measurement and monitoring to allow health systems to get out of the ‘project of the hour’ mindset most find themselves in.