Late Stakeholder Engagement Impacts on Electronic Health Record Transformations within Hospitals and Affiliated Clinics

Abstract

Electronic health records represent a modern clinical tool that can digitize hospital practices and promote interoperability. Xovap Medical, a pseudonym for a clinical system comprising six hospitals and 24 affiliated clinics, failed to digitally transform toward EHR as a result of later stakeholder engagement. Clinical leaders recognize the need for EHR adoption to facilitate high-quality patient care, promote diagnosis accuracy, and modernize outdated workflows. A narrative literature review was conducted to understand successful strategies for EHR adoption when engaging stakeholders and the risks associated with late engagement. The review suggests early stakeholder engagement as a critical component in successful EHR transformations. The findings suggest leaders must engage physicians to help select EHR tools, utilize physician knowledge to inform training, promote feedback cycles that help sustain EHR adoption, and build trust that the EHR provides high-quality patient care through involvement in the adoption process.