This Week in Pharmacy (#TWIRx) podcast on the Pharmacy Podcast Network featured Dr. Charles Bell and Andrea Corner, PharmD in a conversation about the collaboration needed among pharmacists and physicians during EHR implementations through post go-live optimization.
Stream the conversation
Listen to the full episode
Podcast guests and highlights
Dr. Andrea Corner earned her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine. She worked in retail and as a hospital pharmacist for five years. After discovering a passion for pharmacy informatics, Andrea began working as a consultant on EHR implementations. Most recently Dr. Corner has been promoted to manager at CereCore and leads a team of pharmacists and clinical analysts dedicated to the multi-year, multi-facility MEDITECH Expanse implementation project underway at HCA Healthcare.
Dr. Charles Bell attended Temple University School of Pharmacy, practiced as a compounding pharmacist in retail and worked in pharmacy research. He continued to work as a pharmacist while attending medical school at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. As a physician consultant for CereCore, Dr. Bell brings real world understanding since he has walked in the shoes of a pharmacist and physician.
Before EMRs there was paper
Dr. Corner and Dr. Bell have seen healthcare evolve immensely. Both have worked in healthcare when orders were handwritten, and paper MARs (medication administration record) were floating around.
Dr. Bell explained, “In my career, I have witnessed hospitals converting from paper to fully organized systems using MEDITECH. Our goal at CereCore is to continue organizing and helping organizations move towards MEDITECH Expanse, and every aspect of the organization will experience change”
Challenges that impact physicians and pharmacists
Both agreed staffing shortages and alert fatigue are tough challenges for providers and pharmacists.
Dr. Corner said, “We see our pharmacists filling in areas that normally they would not need to, and they are being pulled in different directions. All the added responsibilities lead them to burning out.”
However, she sees having a more efficient EHR as an opportunity to relieve some of the burden.
“Physicians get alert-fatigue which results in them pushing the alerts to someone else,” said Dr. Bell. “This can result in the pharmacist getting hundreds of alerts.”
Dr. Bell proposed that one possible solution is to set up alerts in the EMR so that physicians and pharmacists see the same alerts and can be addressed when providers are entering the order. He emphasized that early involvement from providers and pharmacists in the development of workflows provides opportunities for important feedback that can help mitigate risks to patient care.
Easing the stress of technology change
As practitioners who are also experienced in EHR implementations, they shared tips for how to ease the anxiety when transitioning from one EHR to another:
- Communicate openly about the change and what to expect. This will help reassure care providers that patients will remain the number one priority.
- Allow adequate time for testing and training.
- Establish clear plans for at the elbow support, command center, and processes for reporting issues when they happen.
- Encourage collaboration so that building the system and workflows include as many different perspectives as possible to prevent something integral from being overlooked.
- Set the expectation that optimization after go-live is necessary to fine-tune the system so you can get the most out of it.
Final advice for pharmacists and providers
“First, understand how critical the pharmacist's role is to the team,” Dr. Bell said.
Providers and pharmacists need to help each other by having information in the EMR and keeping it updated.
“My advice is always to bring it back to why are you here,” said Dr. Corner. “For me, it has always been to improve the lives of others — whether that is the patient, provider, pharmacists, or nurses. Because at the end of the day, we are making such a positive impact in the lives of others.”
Stream the conversation
Listen to the full episode on the Pharmacy Podcast Network
