Implementation of the Electronic Medical Record into the Bachelor of Nursing program: A descriptive study

Background/context: Electronic Medical Record (EMR) is a digital system aimed at enhancing patient documentation, leading to reduced medication-related errors, improving communication, enhanced critical thinking and supportive patient care (Wisner et al., 2019). Replacing traditional paper-based patient documentation, EMR improves accessibility to interdisciplinary documentation, provides guidelines and protocols, supports medication knowledge, provides alerts, and identifies clinical tasks (Chung & Cho, 2017). To prepare nursing students for the clinical environment, educators and the academic curricula needs to reflect current information technology practices and advancements including EMR. The initiative/practice: The primary author designed and developed the Electronic Medical Record using OneNote Class Notebook platform which is available to all Microsoft Office users. It was implemented in one clinical course in the Bachelor of Nursing program. The integration of the EMR in nursing education through simulation introduces the students to digital healthcare that is current in Australia and globally, but it also helps build their skills in analysing and interpreting data to provide good evidence and recording measurements with accuracy and precision. Methods of evaluative data collection and analysis: This cross-sectional study enrolled second-year nursing students enrolled in a course in the Bachelor of Nursing program. A self-developed survey was administered. The survey comprised questions on general information about nursing students and their experience accessing with the Electronic Medical Record system used in the simulated laboratory session on campus. Evidence of outcomes and effectiveness: Of the 270 students enrolled in this course, 237 (88%) responded to the survey with 34 returning incomplete surveys and 203 completed the survey overall, for a response rate of 75%. The majority of students (n=186, 78.5%) had a positive experience using the Electronic Medical Record during their laboratory sessions. Nearly three quarter of the students (n= 175, 73.4%) reported challenges with the equipment in the lab, specifically the computers in the lab and internet connectivity