Abstract
Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) launched a new electronic health record (EHR) in a “big bang” implementation that saw the new software go live across multiple hospitals, clinics and geographic locations in a single morning. The organization rightly focused most of its energy on preparing its nearly 25,000 employees for the impacts of the transition, but it also considered the effects that would be felt by its patients and families. Survey data indicate that patient satisfaction scores demonstrably dip before, during and after an EHR implementation, and take approximately a year to recover. A team at DMC employed a seven-step approach to preparing patients for the impacts of the transition, which led to a return to pre-implementation patient satisfaction scores in about half the time of its peer institutions. The article explores these seven steps in detail and offers recommendations for how healthcare organizations facing large-scale change can use a similar structured approach to mitigate negative impacts to patients.
Experience Framework
This article is associated with the Culture & Leadership lens of The Beryl Institute Experience Framework. (http://bit.ly/ExperienceFramework)
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Recommended Citation
Carlson B, Agee M, Smith T, Sternberg P, Morgan J. Seven steps to successful change: How a large academic medical center prepared patients for organizational change. Patient Experience Journal. 2019; 6(3):129-138. doi: 10.35680/2372-0247.1385.
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