NHS Trusts and healthcare organisations have unique requirements and considerations for their EPR implementation. Based on our experience with MEDITECH Expanse across numerous hospitals, here are key lessons learnt, tips, and best practices, to help you prepare effectively for your implementation.
Preparing for the Project
The period from initial discussions to the "go live" day can pass quickly. Early stages often involve slower progress as teams are set up and workflows defined, with the final months being particularly intense with training and preparation.
To get a head start, make use of the months leading up to the project kick-off to gather crucial information specific to your Trust. Focus on the following areas:
- Third-Party Vendor Integration: List all third-party vendors with signed contracts (e.g., vital sign monitors, imaging systems).
- Departmental Build Requirements: Compile requirements for each department, including nursing, therapy services, medications, care plans, and any paper documentation that needs to be digitised.
- Changes and Application Use: Identify changes within each module or department and define which departments will use each application.
- Resource Allocation: Identify specific staff for the project resource list. This exercise will help you understand the workload for your hospital and will shed light on any resource gaps for a particular service line.
- Communication Platforms: Establish access to file sharing and communication tools used Trust-wide (e.g., email, SharePoint, Teams).
Early determination of these details will set a solid foundation for a successful and organised implementation, defining the scope and resource needs for each department.
>> Check our case study with Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust; the first NHS Trust in the UK that has successfully moved to MEDITECH Expanse and completed this modern EPR milestone.
Build Tracking Tools
Using a build tracking tool can significantly impact the success of your EPR implementation. MEDITECH offers useful project timeline tracking tools that serve as a solid foundation for managing your project. To further enhance your tracking capabilities and streamline project management, we have incorporated advanced project management tools, which include features such as tracking prerequisites, monitoring build progress, managing outstanding tasks, and setting deadlines.
Our experience shows that detailed tracking improves organisation and provides a clear overview of the project’s progress, helping you stay on top of milestones.
Lessons Learnt and Key Considerations
MEDITECH Expanse provides robust standard content. However, review and optimise the content to meet the care requirements of your patient population.
Key areas requiring attention include:
- Review Care Order Sets and Care Plans: Ensure that order set and care plan content from any vendors or internal systems are thoroughly reviewed. Consider appointing a resource to review and update care plans, problems, outcomes, and interventions to ensure they meet your Trust’s needs.
- Standard Content and Resource Approvals: Allocate sufficient time for reviewing and approving standard content across various modules, including PCS and A&E. This involves detailed input from each department to meet all requirements.
- Manual Build Items: Surgical procedures and preference cards, as well as medication assessment screens, require manual build efforts. Assess the level of effort based on the number of items and prepare accordingly.
Key Benefits of MEDITECH Expanse
MEDITECH Expanse offers several improvements and functionalities that healthcare organisations have found beneficial:
- Customisable Widgets: Allow for tailored screens displaying relevant information for specific user groups.
- Unified Patient History: Streamlines patient medical history into a comprehensive view, although actual integration may be limited by UK data sharing regulations.
- Improved Surgical Integration: Enhances integration with other applications to close information gaps.
- Surgery Scheduling: Facilitates easier communication and scheduling with electronic authorisation and pre-registration features.
- Pre-Admission Testing Dashboard: Helps track and view patient information efficiently.
- Handoff Functionality: Centralises patient information for smoother transitions between care teams.
- Customisable Discharge Routine: Streamlines the discharge process with flexible field customisation.
- Patient Portal Questionnaires: Collect patient information via the patient portal.
Takeaways and Next Steps
- Gather Information Early: Collect details from third-party vendors and define project requirements.
- Define Departmental Scope: Clarify the scope and resources needed for each department.
- Review and Optimise: Pay attention to order sets, care plans, and manual build items.
- Evaluate New Functionalities: Assess new features for operational efficiency and satisfaction.
- Explore Surveillance Capabilities: Surveillance Watchlists make it easier to have a clear extraction of patients that need to be closely monitored, which is needed to improve patient care.
Need EPR implementation support or consultation? We specialise in comprehensive EPR technology services - whether you're looking to change EPR platforms, implement or optimise for the next phase of digital maturity. Let's discuss where you are in your MEDITECH Expanse journey and how we can partner together for a successful deployment.
