Question

Resources in Healthcare Simulations What main resources would you need to integrate an academic electronic health record in healthcare simulations (with and without human patient simulators)? Include staff in the discussion.

Answer 1

The use of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) in clinical settings has increased dramatically. Many clinical training programs have not incorporated the use of electronic documentation into their curricula. It is important to incorporate technologies that will be used in real contexts into educational clinical simulations to better prepare students for clinical practice and enhance patient safety. Electronic documentation may be more difficult to teach students because it requires more in-depth guidance on how to use the electronic documentation system and because healthcare organizations often give students limited or no access to the electronic documentation system. documentation. This review will include a discussion of the pros and cons of using EHRs, the barriers and enablers of implementing educational EHRs, and best practices for integrating educational EHRs into existing education programs.

Electronic health records documentation can be more difficult to teach students because it requires more in-depth instructions on how to use the electronic documentation system and because healthcare organizations often give students limited or no access to the documentation system. Educational electronic health records are very similar to standard electronic health records, but are modified to support educational activity functionality. Currently, clinical simulations that include educational electronic health records are likely to use these records as a passive source of information rather than as an interactive device for data entry (i.e. document production) and informational research. Students should also learn to maintain interpersonal communication skills with the patient while documenting in electronic health records to maintain the optimum physician / client relationship. Educational electronic health records that can be integrated into current clinical simulation training are being developed to fill this gap.

While employers expect recent graduates to be proficient in using information technology after graduation, students often lack the training opportunities needed to acquire this skill. The aim of this literature review is to summarize the current state of science around the use of electronic health records in clinical simulations with the aim of guiding future teaching and research practices. This review will not cover the use of simulated EHRs by current healthcare professionals because they have different simulation objectives and requirements for EHR functions which will be outside the scope of this review. This review will include a discussion of the pros and cons of using EHRs, the barriers and enablers of implementing educational EHRs, and best practices for integrating educational EHRs into existing education programs.