Ohio nurses call for delay in EMR implementation

Citing inadequate training, a staffing shortage and the potential risk of patient harm, registered nurses (RNs) at an Ohio medical center called for hospital officials to delay the planned June 21 implementation of a new EMR system.

Direct-care nurses at Affinity Medical Center in Massillon, Ohio, further said that the implementation violates federal labor law because it was done without bargaining, according to a June 18 press statement by the National Nurses United, which is representing the group. According to the nurses, the system “has the potential of violating the Ohio Nursing Practice Act because it does not permit RNs to communicate individualized, potentially life-saving information about their patients,” according to the release.

The nurses delivered a letter to the hospital citing their concerns. In it, they noted an Institute of Medicine report that found that failure to include RNs in a transition is one of the most significant barriers to a successful implementation of EHRs. According to National Nurses United, the hospitals would not accept the letter and its additional trainings to prepare for the implementation were “inadequate.”

“RNs who actually use these systems day in and day out have found that the kind of care they can provide with this new technology is limited,” said National Nurses Organizing Committee co-president Cokie Giles, RN. “The programs are often counterintuitive, cumbersome to use, and sometimes simply malfunction. Nurses are finding that the technology is taking time away from patients and fundamentally changing the nature of nursing.”

However, it was noted that the nurses have successfully negotiated clauses in its contracts that allow RNs to play a greater role in reviewing and approving new technologies.