For VA Southern Oregon staff, Federal EHR lights the path to greater efficiency
VA News ·
Federal EHR a “game changer” in day-to-day productivity for VA Southern Oregon staff.
As anyone who works the day shift in the health care field can attest, it can be a challenge to get home before dark. Thanks to the power of the Federal Electronic Health Record (EHR), Rasha Yaghan, a nurse practitioner for VA Southern Oregon Rehabilitation Center, is finding it easier to serve Veterans and wrap up her responsibilities during daylight hours.
In a recent video, Yaghan joins two of her colleagues in explaining how features of the Federal EHR are lightening the load of their daily responsibilities, such as charting and processing patient orders.
“I think the Ambient AI is so awesome,” said Yaghan, praising the technology that records patient visits with their permission. “The first question is, ‘Do you mind if I record the visit? It makes my charting easier, and I get to go home before the sun sets.’ And so, they laugh and chuckle and say, ‘Of course, anything that makes your charting easier.’”
While Yaghan acknowledged that daylight drives home aren’t always possible, “There’s days when it’s really, really busy. I just can’t catch up.” She called the improvement a “game changer” in her day-to-day productivity.
Physician Assistant Matthew Demas recommended taking advantage of the Federal EHR capability for utilizing dot phrases, which accelerates the process for documenting patient notes.
“Anytime you have any redundancies, you should just make a dot phrase for it; that will speed up your process probably 5- or 10-fold,” he explained. “That would be my suggestion. And from the time I’ve used the Federal EHR, that is what’s always been what helped you kind of manage your workflow easier and mitigate any potential inefficiencies.”
Similarly, Vanessa Crosby, a dental hygienist, described how she’s been able to streamline the ordering process for patient X-rays. “Once they changed it, it was like ‘Oh, this is a lot easier to use.’
“We’ve definitely noticed a change throughout the years, and a better way.”
Watch the latest episode in “The Federal EHR: Real Stories. Real Impact.” video series to hear more about how the Federal EHR has improved efficiency.