EHR Learning - It's about Nursing, Leadership and Long-Term Commitments

Despite a global commitment to the adoption of technologies, such as electronic health records (EHRs), to support the delivery of health services, there is little empirical guidance to support effective planning for the integration of these tools into practice settings (Suter et al. 2009). In particular, although EHR learning is known to positively influence integration (Byrne 2012), individual perspectives are often overlooked because of investigative designs that devalue such viewpoints by exploring the utility of technologies rather than the lived experiences of individual users of the technology. Therefore, this qualitative study offered nurse participants opportunities to make sense of EHR learning through talking about their experiences. This narrative inquiry was a collaborative interpretive method of discovery: stories and thematic analysis were the two separate yet complementary frames used to support data analysis. Finally, several practice implications and recommendations about EHR learning are presented with an emphasis placed upon patient safety as a way to impart accountability on behalf of learners, educators and those charged with governing responsibilities during times of EHR integration.