Healthcare facilities waste a lot of time every day thanks to inefficient nursing habits. However, many of these issues are often due to a lack of proper supplies, organization, and technology rather than the nurses themselves. Read on to learn about the best time-saving charting solutions your medical practice needs.
Eliminate Inefficient Charting Habits
Before you can implement new methods for streamlining your practice’s charting, it’s essential that you eliminate common, inefficient habits. Pre-charting—involving filling out certain minor information before meeting with a patient (based on educated guesses)—is a practice that some healthcare professionals believe expedites the entire charting process. However, this habit causes you to backtrack when charting and increases the chances of making medical mistakes with serious consequences.
Another charting practice considered inefficient is double-documenting. Simply put, double-documenting is when a medical chart is overflowing with narrative notes that overshadow essential data points. When records are digitalized, patient information is often organized by data sets and flowsheets rather than sentences of notes. Learning to eliminate narrative language in medical charts takes experience, but the time saved is invaluable. Plus, your coworkers will appreciate the increased convenience.
Use Intuitive Organizational Supplies
Aside from eliminating inefficient charting habits, it’s highly recommended that your medical practice invests in more intuitive supplies that promote efficiency. For example, document storage equipment and medical chart dividers manufactured by healthcare-focused manufacturers can significantly reduce wasted time.
This is because these products are designed specifically to meet the demands of a dynamic, chaotic, fast-paced medical working environment. Overall, committing to better organizational gear throughout your healthcare facility will expedite the medical charting procedure and other essential administrative processes.
Upgrade Your Clipboard
Clipboards appear quite insignificant compared to all the other supplies found throughout a healthcare facility. However, these tools play a vital role in medical charting and related nursing responsibilities. Nurses can struggle with documenting quickly without a durable clipboard designed specifically for patient charts. For instance, a covered clipboard with built-in storage space is a much easier surface to chart on than a standard, skinny product.
Artificial Intelligence in EHR
Electronic health records, or EHR, benefit greatly from the implementation of artificial intelligence programs. In fact, many medical practices across the globe are currently testing the capabilities of A.I. in charting processes to determine its efficacy and practicality. The most promising artificially-driven charting tool developed thus far comes from UCHealth—their program reduced overall medical charting for nurses by 18 minutes and cut total documentation and information needed from patients by half. While still early, it’s worth considering the time-saving benefits of using A.I. throughout your healthcare facility in an effort to modernize and adapt.
Consider these four time-saving charting solutions to enhance productivity and effectiveness within your medical practice. Luckily, our team at Carstens carries a wide variety of healthcare products designed to improve the medical working environment for yourself, coworkers, and patients—browse our selection today.