26 June 2023

EMR training: Anaesthetists training Anaesthetists

Northern Health’s Electronic Medical Record (EMR) super user training kick starts today.

From designing and building the EMR to testing and endorsing the workflows, the time has finally come to get our staff ready for our EMR go live in September.

EMR training will be mainly delivered by our team of 15 EMR trainers. However, we have some special guests who will also be taking on the role to train their peers during the 10-week training period.

Jake Geertsema, Ben Peake, Ben Wong, Jamie Mackay, Charlie Harding, Ben Wong, and Jason Ma, Anaesthetists at Northern Health, volunteered to undergo a ‘train the trainer’ program on 19 and 20 June to learn the new workflows and familiarise themselves with the training module, before providing formal classroom training to their peers.

There will be theatre slowdown to allow the team of seven trainers to train the 77 consultants and 30 JMOs in the department within the eight-week training schedule.

To prepare for training, Jason Ma, Deputy Director of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine, said they have started incorporating EMR demonstrations into their weekly meetings.

“This slowly introduces the system and allows us to answer questions. In August, every meeting will have snippets to refresh those who may have had their training much earlier and provide updates on processes.”

Jason is excited to see how EMR can improve workflows across Northern Health.

“Simple things like recording observations five minutely will be a thing of the past, allowing us to concentrate more on patient management. It will be easier to see current patient issues and should reduce the amount of copying of information,” he said.

Cliff Wiltshire, EMR Training Manager, thanks the leadership’s involvement.

“The team has been able to nominate five staff as EMR trainers, which will set them up to train the more than 100 consultants and JMOs and have the expertise to support their team members at go live,” Cliff said.

All EMR classroom training will commence today and continue until 2 September to train more than 4,000 staff working in the inpatient setting, Emergency, Theatres, and some working in specialist maternity clinics.

“Remember, no training, no EMR access.  Make sure you are booked into training and attend the scheduled session,” Cliff adds.

Thank you to all of you who were involved in this tremendous task and let the EMR go live countdown begin.

Featured image: Ben Peake, Jake Geertsema, and Jason Ma, Anaesthetists attending EMR ‘train the trainer’ program.