IF YOUR ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORD (EHR) ALREADY HAS WOUND DOCUMENTATION ELEMENTS…HOW COULD WOUND CARE DOCUMENTATION SOFTWARE HELP?
There’s no need to add unnecessary processes to an already busy healthcare setting. However, a wound-specific documentation system can make your EHR much easier to use.
-
Documentation becomes faster with a user-friendly layout.
-
Weaknesses in your current system get coverage.
-
Individual patient progress becomes easier to track.
-
Graphed data trends from the whole census become visible.
-
Double-charting and missing assessment details can be avoided.
-
Care collaboration becomes stronger.
How can adding wound care software to an EHR make documentation faster?
The majority of nurses report feeling the burden of documentation is too high. This undermines morale, leading to faster burnout and less time giving care. Intuitively, an additional record system doesn’t seem like it would improve efficiency.
A QUALITY DIGITAL WOUND MANAGEMENT SYSTEM REMOVES EFFICIENCY BOTTLENECKS.
SEARCH-AND-FIND CHARTING IS REDUCED
Most EHRs have a wound care component with plenty of sections for documentation. Each section typically has a menu of selectable assessment options or a cell to add manual notes.
The exhaustive options are potentially helpful for a thorough assessment. However, they also clutter a system with options that are irrelevant to a single patient. Providers have to sift through the menus to find the assessment descriptions they want.
AN ADDITIONAL WOUND CARE DOCUMENTATION SOFTWARE CREATES AN EASY-TO-FILL CHARTING PROCESS.
WOUND PHOTOGRAPHY TOOLS ARE INTEGRATED
Gathering, uploading, and accessing photography on an EHR is often a time-consuming process. Wound management software with an image-capturing system can reduce a lengthy process to a single click. A provider can automatically capture and upload both the wound image and measurement in one step.
WoundZoom reduces the time it takes to manually measure wounds, upload images, and enter measurements. However, the image measurement tool doesn’t just trim the process time. It standardizes the measurement process. This dramatically reduces measurement errors, which occur nearly half the time when paper-ruler measuring is used.
How can wound care documentation software make charting efficient yet more thorough?
In a 2019 study, a staggering 47.8% of nursing documentation was found to be inadequate. Below-standard charting is a significant barrier to good care collaboration and handoff. It can also negatively affect insurance coverage and data collection for quality improvement.
Documentation clearly needs to be more thorough. However, adding more cells and menu items to a charting system can quickly overwhelm users.
AN IMPORTANT STRATEGY TO AVOID THIS IS TO IMPROVE DOCUMENTATION FLOW.
ESSENTIAL ASSESSMENT DETAILS NEED TO BE FRONT AND CENTER
Insurance coverage and care plan changes often rely on certain assessment details more than others. For example, wound measurements are often skipped when a wound is changed frequently. Measurement data, however, is often critical for wound vac rental insurance coverage.
When an EHR is cluttered with assessment menus that aren’t relevant to a patient, practitioners are forced to pick through documentation menus. Conversely, documentation cells that require typed notes are difficult to standardize.
A DIGITAL WOUND MANAGEMENT SYSTEM OFFERS INTUITIVELY LAID OUT ELEMENTS. A CLEAR LAYOUT SPEEDS NAVIGATION AND REDUCES OVERWHELM.
How does wound care documentation software track patient progress better than a general EHR?
Clicking through individual documentation entries is inefficient—yet many care providers have no other choice when tracking a patient’s progress.
WOUND CARE DOCUMENTATION SOFTWARE COMPILES DATA INTO EASY-TO-READ GRAPHS. PROGRESS OVER MULTIPLE DATA POINTS CAN BE QUICKLY REVIEWED.
With the volume of wound care patients today, a provider needs to be able to quickly answer:
Is the patient’s wound getting better, worse, or showing no progress?
Without clear trends, a patient can be given a non-therapeutic treatment well beneath standards of practice.
For example, consider a patient with an alginate dressings ordered for their wound. If the patient’s wound remains unchanged visit to visit, how can different providers discover this trend in time to change the plan of care?
Instead of having to look back to individual visits, a time-limited provider can review an automatically compiled graph.
Wound photos are another vital assessment tool that should be easily accessible. A written wound assessment can vary dramatically from provider to provider. Reviewing a patient’s consolidated, easy to access wound photos is an excellent way to compare progress visit to visit.
For example, imagine a nurse has been assigned the care of a patient she is not familiar with. She needs to quickly get the background on this patient’s wound and progress. She may not have time to dig through many assessments from individual visits. Instead, reviewing the collection of a patient’s wound photos proves both fast and accurate.
Do you have to double-chart when using wound care documentation software with your EHR?
No. Having to enter a single assessment detail in more than one section would defeat the purpose of a robust complementary tool. A good digital wound management system will only require a provider to enter relevant assessment information once.
When the information is entered into a system like WoundZoom, the data integrates into the facility’s EHR system. WoundZoom integrates with Epic, MatrixCare, and more.
How does wound care documentation software help care collaboration?
Wound care providers are no strangers to getting scant wound documentation from referring ERs and primary care offices. It’s not uncommon for practitioners to need to start their wound assessment from the ground up—even if the patient was referred for wound care.
Patients become frustrated having to repeat their health history to providers they assumed had communicated with each other. Trouble multiplies when the doctor, on average, cuts off the patient 11 seconds into recounting their health history.
The robust digital wound management system is easier to navigate, which becomes easier to review. It also supports a smooth and safe care handoff with easy, streamlined charting.
A facility’s EHR becomes more streamlined when supported by wound care documentation software
Your EHR may have its own detailed elements for documenting wound care. This in itself, however, doesn’t ensure that documentation is thorough, accurate, easy to review, or easy to access. A complementary system that specializes in wound care helps ensure that your EHR doesn’t fall short of standards of care.
Your EHR would benefit from a complementary digital wound management system if you see any of these trends in your facility:
-
Your staff consistently enters minimal assessment details in your EHR, even though the EHR has the capacity for more thorough charting.
-
It’s difficult for staff to efficiently upload and access wound photography in your EHR.
-
Patient wound details, such as measurement, are frequently missing when requested by insurance providers, another facility, or auditors.
-
Wound documentation for your facility’s patients is often generic and poorly individualized.
Filling in the gaps of your EHR’s wound care sections has a positive impact on multiple levels. Patient care continuity is improved, supporting better outcomes. Assessment details required for insurance coverage and state auditors are more reliably entered by staff.
If your company is ready to facilitate thorough, efficient charting for its healthcare workers, consider adding wound care documentation software to your EHR. Book your FREE 30-minute WoundZoom demo to explore how our digital wound technology innovations support better documentation.
