As a critical component of patient care, nurses have to constantly adapt to changes in technology. One of the newest and most-wide spread of these technological changes is the implementation of electronic medical records (EMRs). EMRs follow the patient from admission to treatment to billing, and the healthcare workers who interface with them the most are nurses. So when a facility, such as South Georgia Medical Center, seeks to convert from paper charts to EMRs, they want to ensure that while their core staff is learning a new and complex system, their patients are still receiving the highest quality care.
“We’ve gone through a lot of growth,” said Amanda Wentworth, professional recruitment coordinator for South Georgia Medical Center. “Our ER expanded from 22 to 42 beds, we introduced a hospitalist program and then we did the rollout of the EMRs. We’ve had a lot of projects going on and we needed to get experienced help in here pretty fast for the ER and some other areas that were growing so rapidly.”
During this time of immense change, South Georgia turned to AMN Healthcare’s NurseChoice quick-start, short-term option, to help staff for their evolving needs.
A New Approach to EMR Conversion
South Georgia Medical Center took a unique approach to EMR conversion. Instead of a complete transition throughout the hospital, they sectioned the units for individual implementation.
Prior to their expansion and the EMR rollout, the facility had reduced the number of travel nurses and was utilizing per diem nurses to supplement gaps in staffing. However, with so many changes taking place at one time, the facility decided that having consistent temporary staff, like travel nurses, would lead to more consistent, quality patient care.
“We work with some per diem companies and most of them are local,” said Wentworth. “I thought going with travel nurses would be best for the conversion. I knew how long I needed them and I knew I would need them for set assignment lengths.”
Since each unit was undergoing the conversion separately, Wentworth needed supplemental nurses across all specialties at different times to assist in patient care during each unit’s conversion. With access to the largest network of healthcare professionals, NurseChoice helped South Georgia find the nurses they needed at the times they needed them.
“Response times are immediate, almost like magic,” noted Wentworth. “I’ve been getting exactly what I want, which is spoiling me for other staffing companies.”
Reduced Training for Maximum Patient Care
In addition to staffing nurses from a variety of specialties, NurseChoice’s computer conversion program staffs nurses pre-trained in the most commonly used EMR programs.
Wentworth needed EMR trained nurses, so Nurse Choice seemed the obvious answer. With a complete roster of experienced EMR nurses, training time was minimized and the nurses were able to quickly take on patient care while the core staff trained.
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