Healthcare Information Technology Exam Guide for CompTIA Healthcare IT Technician and HIT Pro Certifications

EHR Conversions

The majority of conversions are now done as “big-bang” conversions, rather than unit-by-unit conversions, although many hospitals still convert the emergency department first, followed by inpatient wards. The important principle is to avoid having patients with simultaneous paper and electronic charts, especially for orders in general and medications in particular. Since the emergency department is, in some sense, isolated from inpatient care, it can be converted independently as long as some care is taken during the admission process. The same, again with due care, can be said of the independent conversion of labor and delivery units or ambulatory clinics. In accordance with this point, CPOE is (within any unit and often for ...