contributing writer

A recent Black Book Rankings poll finds 92 percent of nurses are dissatisfied with EHRs.

It’s not only doctors who struggle with electronic health records (EHRs); nurses are also frustrated with flawed EHRs and outdated technology. According to a recent Black Book Rankings poll, 92 percent of nurses are dissatisfied with inpatient electronic health record systems.

“Although the inpatient EHR replacement frenzy has calmed temporarily, the frustration from nursing EHR users has increased exponentially,” said Doug Brown, Managing Partner of Black Book Market Research. “The meaningful use financial incentives for hospitals have many IT departments scurrying to implement these EHR’s without consulting direct care nurses, according to the majority of those polled by Black Book.” Numbers backing up Brown’s assertion include:

• 84 percent of nurses say EHRs disrupt productivity and workflow, causing job dissatisfaction
• 85 percent say they’re struggling with continually flawed EHRs
• 88 percent blame financial administrators for selecting low performance EHRs

“Technology can help nurses do their jobs more effectively or it can be a highly intrusive burden on the hospital nurse delivering patient care,” said Brown. “Many compounding nurse productivity problems of can be sourced to the failure of those selecting and implementing an EHR to involve direct care nurses in the process.”

Nurses also feel that their input was not valued enough when their organization selected an EHR. Eighty-four percent of nursing administrators in not-for-profit hospitals and 97 percent of those at for-profit hospitals agree. Additionally:

• 90 percent say that the use of the current EHR system in their facility has negatively impacted communications between nurses and their patients
• 94 percent do not believe that the use of their current EHR has improved the communication between the nurse and the care team (physicians, respiratory therapists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, pharmacists, etc.)
• only 26 percent agree with the statement, “As a nurse, I believe the current EHR at my organization improves the quality of patient information.”
• 51 percent of nurses working in hospitals with greater than 100 beds report that all care team members at their organization access and document on the same EHR screens

Seventy-nine percent of job seeking registered nurses reported that the reputation of the hospital’s EHR system is a top three consideration in their choice of where they will work. "Nurses will drive a new wave of inpatient EHR replacements and advances to outdated hybrid systems as it becomes harder to retain and recruit staff,” said Brown. “Hospitals, particularly in competitive markets, will experience an exodus of nurses who will change employers for those with flexible, highly usable EHRs, where nurses feel they can get more real time to care of patients.”