The effect of early adoption of an academic electronic health record system in nursing education: A pilot outcome study

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to explore the faculty’s and students’ perceptions of an academic electronic health record system (AEHRs) for teaching/learning electronic nursing documentation and to assess the outcomes of the AEHRs on nursing students’ competency with electronic nursing documentation.

Methods: With a mixed-method pilot study, a convenience sample of 41 undergraduate nursing students and a purposive sample of 7 faculty and 9 students were used. Two groups of student participants for the quantitative data were compared for their competency with electronic nursing documentation. For the qualitative data, an in-depth, exploratory approach to data collection was taken for the nursing faculty and the intervention group.

Results: For the quantitative findings, the early adoption of an AEHRs could help students to collect a patients’ health information through the system even though it may not impact their critical thinking on a patient’s care. For the qualitative findings, three key themes were shared by the faculty and students: (1) benefits and challenges, (2) impact of the AEHRs, and (3) recommendations for future adoption.

Conclusions: This study revealed that the successful adoption of an AEHRs includes many steps that can be used to create positive improvements. These findings were beneficial to prepare students and nursing educators for the future of health information technology. Meaningful adoption of an AEHRs will help in building the competence of undergraduate nursing students in electronic nursing documentation and improve patient care.