EMR Conversion (Electronic Medical Records)

Fastaff Travel Nursing Keeps Hospital on Track During EMR Conversion

For more than 20 years Fastaff Travel Nursing has been a trusted partner in providing Rapid Response nursing to many of the most prestigious hospitals in the U.S. When it is time for your facility to begin a conversion to an EMR system, qualified specialty RNs from Fastaff are standing by. What follows is a Fastaff case study highlighting what you can expect when faced with an EMR conversion.

Summary

• Largest private hospital in Honolulu Hawaii
• 505 acute-care beds and 28 sub-acute beds
• Electronic Medical Records (EMR) software upgrade caused a major staff training issue among nurses
• FASTAFF provides 90 nurses to relieve permanent staff for necessary EMR software training

A major hospital EMR software conversion is a complex undertaking, requiring months of planning and hours of training for all staff who will use the new system. For a major medical center in Hawaii, the task was even more daunting. Its shift to an EMR system meant large numbers of nurses would be in training sessions simultaneously. The hospital needed to ensure that its patients were being cared for properly while the nurses focused on their training. The hospital’s remote location and budget constraints, however, meant finding temporary nurses to cover shifts could be a problem. Plus, the wealth of highly specialized nurses working at the facility would require extremely skilled nurses to fill their shoes, even for a few weeks.

The hospital turned to Fastaff, which provides temporary nurses to fill staffing gaps. Immediately, Fastaff sent an on-site representative to work with facility administrators, creating a workable strategy for staffing nurses during the EMR software training period.

Planning was key to this partnership since Fastaff travel nurses would need temporary housing in Hawaii during the holiday season and over the busy Pro Bowl weekend. Fastaff strategically scheduled arrival dates and flights to keep the project within budget. Fastaff’s flexible scheduling also allowed the facility to schedule nurses for as long or short a shift as needed and order fewer nurses than would typically be required, saving the hospital money in travel and housing costs.

By partnering with the hospital beforehand, Fastaff successfully mobilized a large number of nurses within days. Fastaff travel nurses assisted the remote hospital throughout the holiday season, when luring nurses from their families is most difficult. At one point, Fastaff had 90 nurses working simultaneously to fully staff multiple units. And each possessed the needed background to provide specialized care, from scrubbing and circulating in the OR to attending to the delicate needs of patients in the adolescent psychiatric unit.

The EMR staff training took more than five months, and FASTAFF was at the hospital’s side the whole way. Their partnership allowed permanent nurses to focus on learning important new information, while patients got the same extraordinary care they expect from this respected medical facility. The training experience went so well, the hospital has come back to FASTAFF to fill more staffing needs, a testament to the relationship created during this partnership.

About Fastaff Travel Nursing

For more than 20 years Fastaff has been staffing acute-care facilities with highly trained, top-quality nurses in a variety of specialties. FASTAFF responds with as little as 48-hours notice to crucial and urgent healthcare needs. FASTAFF has earned the Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval, showing our commitment to continuous improvement and quality services.

For more information on Fastaff see I'm a Facility or complete our Hospital Healthcare Staffing Request to be contacted within 24 hours, Monday - Friday.