Just been assigned to an EHR implementation? When implementing any sort of new technology or process within a healthcare facility, you must ensure operational readiness, regardless of the situation. To do this, you’re going to have to make sure your hospital, clinic, or long term care home has well-defined operational processes.

There are five things you can do right now to ensure you have these well-defined operational processes:

1. Pain point identification

The first thing to do is to consult with executive sponsor(s) (usually in the c-suite) to determine what their main problems or pain points are. The pain points are usually the biggest problems in the most important part of the organization. In my experience, most of the pain points identified are information-based in nature, but try to keep an open mind. Also try to keep things relatively high-level as someone in the c-suite may not know all of the intricate details of the problem. Instead, save the more detailed questions for staff further down the food chain.

2.   Business process mapping

The second thing to do is to conduct business process mapping. To do this, you are going to have to get a handle on all of the documentation surrounding the pain points. This can include:

• SOPs
• Working instructions
• Policies
• Business plans
• Strategic plans
• Job descriptions
• Legislation

All of the above can help provide context and should help understand the “why”.

If any of the above documentation is missing from the organization you are working for/with, note it down and ensure hat the resultant recommendations reflect this gap or if you are delivering the project, make sure the development of these missing documents become project deliverables.

Use the business and strategic plans to identify gaps in the current processes and clearly state the tasks required to fill these gaps.

3.   Develop the report

Develop the report along with the business process maps to identify the current state and provide recommendations for the future state, one where the pain points are resolved.