As a student preparing to become a future healthcare professional, you want to learn all you can to be the best care provider possible.
But aside from the day-to-day responsibilities of seeing patients, there’s another critical skill many students aren’t learning: how to use an electronic medical record, or EMR.
Clinics are moving toward fully digitizing medical records, and many university clinics and programs touch on only the basics of electronic medical record training. Without proper training, you may struggle with keeping digital records of patient progress during your early years as a practicing professional.
It's essential for students to get the right training in EMR use now so you can provide your patients with the proper care right from the start.
Here are five specific ways you can develop your electronic medical record skills as a student.
1. Understand electronic medical record best practices for your specific fields.
Most students will specialize in a particular practice area—which means that there will be specific nuances to how an electronic medical record best functions for your specialty. Find a faculty mentor or professional in your specialty area and ask them about their typical best practices for charting. If you’re training in a university clinic, make a list of EMR-related questions that come up during your training and check in with your supervising faculty member to get them answered.
2. Know HIPAA guidelines
It’s a no-brainer that patient information should be held in strict confidence. But understanding what that means in terms of HIPAA regulations is critical to ensure you’re in compliance. Make a specific effort to know HIPAA guidelines and how they relate to the information you’re entering into your chart, no matter how small the details.
3. Develop EMR troubleshooting techniques
As a student, mistakes are a part of learning—and chances are, there will be times where you’ve misentered a piece of data or aren’t sure where the information belongs in the chart. Your professors will be ready and willing to help you navigate the electronic medical record software—but it’s also helpful to know how to troubleshoot potential issues yourself. Ask your instructor about common mistakes other students make while using EMR and see if there are strategies or techniques you can implement to avoid these issues.
4. Learn about EMR integration with other systems.
EMR systems aren’t the only software you’ll need to master as a healthcare provider. Knowing how your EMR integrates with other software at your practice will go a long way in helping you become more efficient and collaborative, all while protecting patient data. Ask your supervisor what other software you’ll need to learn and how it may interact with your EMR.
5. Improve efficiency with data entry
Entering all the necessary data can feel overwhelming—and managing patient charts will often take even more time than your initial appointment with patients. While accuracy should be your primary focus, finding ways to streamline the data entry in your EMR can help you manage your workload better.
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