Physician EHR Toolkit

Recently we launched our Physician EHR Toolkit. This toolkit provides resources for physicians to optimize their EHRs and advocate for better EHRs in the future. The toolkit is free, and has resources for people with all different types of EHRs. We wanted to quickly breakdown the toolkit sections to highlight some of the awesome content in the toolkit.  

General EHR Tips

General EHR Tips provides suggestions and links to resources for physicians to optimize their EHR. There is a list of tips for individuals, as well as tips for a department or organization. There are also links to resources like common smart phrases, a de-implementation checklist to reduce clutter, and more.  

Inbox Management

Inbox Management describes how to optimize the physician inbox to reduce unnecessary time spent in it. There is a list of steps to take to optimize your inbox, as well as another tips section for reducing unnecessary time spent in the inbox.  

Apps and Software

Apps and Software highlights current applications and software available to reduce documentation time and improve workload. The page includes voice software, medical reference and clinical decision support tools, workflow tools, and an “other” category for apps that don’t quite fit in the rest of the categories. We are not partnered with any of these app companies to include them in the toolkit, we just listed these because they have worked for others, and we think they may help you, too.  

Advocacy: First Steps

We know physicians want to make healthcare better for everyone, but sometimes it is difficult to know how to start advocating for yourself your colleagues, and your patients. Advocacy: First Steps provides physicians with the first steps to consider when advocating for change to make their advocacy efforts more effective.  

Data and Statistics for Advocacy

Data and Statistics for Advocacy provides data on burnout, EHRs, and the organizational impacts of burnout for physicians to use to support their advocacy efforts. This information can be useful to educate people of the reality of burnout in medicine, and to convince leaders to make necessary changes in organizational, state, and federal policy.   

Advocacy: Share Your Voice

You decided you are ready to advocate for change, but now how do you share this with others? Advocacy: Share Your Voice offers information for contacting legislators, including a tool to determine your legislators by entering your zip code, tips for interacting with legislators, and a bill tracker to see what healthcare bills are being discussed. The section also offers a letter template for change and downloadable social media images to help raise awareness and start a conversation.  

Advocacy Efforts

Advocacy Efforts lists advocacy groups for physicians to join, including general physician groups as well as groups for different specialties. This resource also lists conferences on advocacy, burnout, and EHRs. This is a great way to interact with other physicians passionate about change.  

Educational Opportunities

Educational Opportunities lists different courses, training modules, and programs for physicians on EHR, informatics, and Health IT. There are short courses that can be taken for CME credit, specific EHR vendor courses, programs, and certificate courses. Some courses are very short, while others require long commitments. Browse the courses to see if any are right for you and your learning journey.  

Mental Health Resources

Finally, Mental Health Resources lists therapy options, helplines, and other mental health support available for physicians. There are resources specifically for physicians, resources for underrepresented groups, and general resources for anyone. These resources are here for you, so please use them.  

That wraps up the toolkit! We just want to take a moment to say thank you to the people who worked with us to provide suggestions and make improvements to the toolkit. Your help was much appreciated! 

We hope you will check out the toolkit and share it with others who may find it helpful. If you have any suggestions or comments on the toolkit, please let us know. We want to make the resource as useful as possible for physicians.  

~Tristan