Blending IT and HIM Staff for End User Support of Electronic Health Records

While the implementation of electronic health records (EHRs) is on the rise in health care organizations, they struggle with the end user support structure for EHR data integrity following implementation. Striking a balance between EHR implementations, optimization, and support among information technology (IT) staff may jeopardize end user satisfaction and ultimately the integrity of the EHR clinical content due to inadequate information technology (IT) resources to provide support. Despite end user training in preparation for an EHR implementation, end users still require support on a daily basis. Many issues reported to the IT help desk by end users of EHRs are information errors impacting the integrity of the data within the EHR, and IT staff does not have the appropriate background to remedy these errors. This project outlines the type of issues reported to IT staff and methods to leverage health information management (HIM) professionals' expertise in supporting data integrity within an EHR following implementation. This partnership approach between IT and HIM promotes compliance standards, practices and procedures that govern the legal health record and helps to assure data integrity and patient safety.