A Pharmacy Blueprint for Electronic Medical Record Implementation Success.

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Pharmacy Practice
• Healthcare Systems Engineering

Background:

• Electronic Medical Records (EMR) integration aims to enhance patient safety and quality.
• Limited reports exist on pharmacy's role in multihospital EMR implementation.
• Key EMR components include CPOE, pharmacy verification, eMAR, barcode scanning, and CDS.

Purpose of the Study:

• To detail the pharmacy department's experience in implementing an integrated EMR system across a multihospital network.
• To provide insights into the design, build, deployment, and maintenance phases from a pharmacy perspective.

Main Methods:

• A 9-month planning and build phase followed by a 13-month rollout across 8 hospitals.
• Analysis of medication workflow, drug database management, and clinical order set development.
• Examination of labor requirements and impact on pharmacy practice models.

Main Results:

• Identified critical success factors and guiding principles for EMR implementation.
• Discussed challenges and strategies for medication workflow, database integration, and barcode scanning.
• Evaluated the impact on pharmacy practice and revenue.

Conclusions:

• Adherence to outlined principles can aid pharmacy in EMR development, implementation, and maintenance.
• Incorporating presented practices can facilitate a smoother and more successful EMR integration process.