Organizational Change Plan Essay

The proposal discussed is Electronic Health records. There are numerous advantages to using Electronic Medical health Records however, there are disadvantages as well. I believe that the Electronic Health Records process needs to be improved. Staff are having major difficulty using EHR‘s and this detrimental to the use because the staff feel uncomfortable therefore avoiding using EHRs. In order to change how the health care providers feel towards using EHRs, management must communicate adequately the need for the change and the great benefits of it. The next step would be for management to educate the staff by using evidence based processes. In this stage, management must make use of EHRs simple for staff to follow and provide enthusiasm in using EHRs correctly. An organizational boundary would be lack of deadlines, lack of funding, and lastly lack of participation from staff. Lack of deadlines leave staff to make their own deadline according to how necessary they feel the chan ge is. Usually, new processes get put off because they’re used to the then existing habit and feel that the new process would require more time and energy. Despite the fact that actually using EHRs require a lot of training the primary benefit of EHRs is that it doesn’t require an unnecessary amount of effort. One could save time and make other staff’s tasks much easier resulting in faster outcomes and more time to focus on more issues. Another organizational boundary would be lack of funding. EHRs need computers, trainers/ End users, training manuals, subject matter experts, and time which could be rather costly. If an organization does not have the funds to provide training manuals, subject matter experts, or any of the other matters reported then the use of EHRs will not be possible. Lastly, lack of participation from staff is an enormous regulatory barrier. Without the use of EHRs by the staff the employees won’t see the benefits of using EHRs and they will continue to use the old and less productive way. Individual barriers include problems comprehending the new information, fear of changing, and computer illit eracy. All the problem stated are rather large personal barriers and are interconnected. One may fear or feel that they don’t want to change to EHRs because they are computer illiterate and can’t comprehend how to use a computer. When using EHRs one must have basic  computer knowledge and be proficient in using all the necessary tools and software’s on a computer and without this knowledge then a person would feel overwhelmed in trying to use EHRs. There are both good and bad factors that may influence my proposed change. An example of a negative factor would be poor performing computers. Positive factors include good communication. Negative factors such as poor performing computes could negatively impact the use of EHRs significantly. The purpose of using EHRs are to save on time resulting in an increase of productivity but if working on a poor performing computer one may be result in going back to writing out information on health records. The main decisive factor i n using EHRs is the increase of communication. With the use of EHRs not only all the staff will be able to access a patient’s information but another organization like a hospital or insurance company will be able to see and use the record. Using EHRs inside an organization will allow for all the staff to view the same information and to be updated. Lewin’s model relates to the change proposed because the process needed to change the process of EHRs which require Lewin’s three steps unfreezing, changing and refreezing Spector (2010). Unfreezing would be getting the staff to realize that they need to make a change. It is said that communication is essential in this step because it is needed to convey the urgency and specific outcome wanted (Change Management In Ehr Implementation, 2013). However in this scenario the change wouldn’t be to implement EHRs it would be to get the staff to use go from avoiding the use of EHRs to become the new norm. The second step of the Lewin’s model is change. Change is moving from old habits or behaviors to the new and efficient implementations. Learning new habits and processes are what happens during this changing phase. Also, resistance is often seen in this stage, usually employees are set in their ways and view the new change as difficult or more challenging therefore they will resist the change Spector (2010). This is where the main problem occurs in the use of EHRs especially at my place of employment. The staff was introduced to a new method in recording health records however the staff still had doubts and felt intimidated towards using EHRs. In order to change or prevent the negative attitude towards the change, managers should let the employees know that the new change is necessary and that it contains more benefits than the last process. This is a problem within our organization. Usually providers state  to the workers that a change is going to be made then they train employees immediately and then they leave it up to the employees to continue to use the new process. In addition, managers and other employers sh ould make themselves available to the staff in assisting them with the new change. The last step discussed in Lewin’s model is freezing. The step freezing ensures that the new process is set in place and will continue to be the new norm. The employees at my workplace were not able to complete the final phase freezing because they resisted the change and reverted back to the old process. Internal resources available to support the change initiatives are using consultants or using expert help or allowing staff to take leadership roles in implementing the use of EHRs. Using expert help specialists allow the trainees to learn more about EHRs and how to prevent and correct problems with EHRs. Allowing staff to implement the use of EHRs through leadership is a very rewarding internal resource (Change Management In Ehr Implementation, 2013). The staff feels good about the change their making and the staff will use EHRs instead of writing this will provide them as well as the viewer with information about a patient and give them a better overview on what is happening with a patient. External resources available to support change initiatives are journals or using sites and articles. External resources would be journals, articles or websites on the subject matter of EHRs. These resources allow one to see anything from the purpose of EHRs, the history of EHRs, as well as how to resolve technical issues with EHRs. I believe that increased efficiency in EHRs will reduce the time it takes to access medical records. The pros outweigh the cons. Depending on whether or not staff has basic computer knowledge the education will be minimal as well as time. The advantages include better time management, more efficient communication, and less space taken up by papers and files. References Change Management in EHR Implementation. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.healthit.gov/sites/default/files/nlc_changemanagementprimer.pdf Spector, B. (2010). Implementing Organizational Change: Theory Into Practice (2nd ed.). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix Ebook Collection database.