Five Tips for Training Staff on Medisoft EMR

Implementing new electronic patient records software for your practice can throw some unexpected challenges at a medical practice, but the end result is worth the trouble. Converting from paper records to an EMR, such as McKesson Medisoft Clinical or Medisoft V.19 (which will include ICD-10 codes when it becomes available), may take some work, but it doesn’t have to be overly stressful if you follow a few important best practices for implementing an EMR and training staff on its use.
Evaluate Existing Computer Skills Among Your Staff
The more comfortable your staff is with basic computer literacy, the easier it will be for them to adapt to using electronic patient records. If they’re not regularly entering patient records into a computer database already, this is the time to get everyone familiar with basic computer tasks. There are many free online resources to help people get comfortable using a database program, running reports and other basic tasks they’ll be able to perform using the EMR.
Pick Out a Few Tech Leaders
If you have more than one or two staff members and physicians who will be using the new EMR, pick someone (or a couple of someones) to become experts in its use. These will be the people that others can ask for help, and who can offer tips to current employees as well as train new employees on the new Medisoft installation. Look for people who learn quickly and are willing to help others learn, and who already are proficient with basic computer tasks, or even a previous EMR.
Only Train People on the Features They Need
McKesson Medisoft is a full-featured, robust EMR and medical billing system, but few people on your staff need to understand every one of its features. In fact, if you try to train everyone in the office on every single area of the system, you’ll be making things much harder than they need to be. The only people who should be trained in all areas of the EMR are those you designate as tech leaders.
Keep Taking Feedback
Feedback should be an ongoing process that continues even after you’ve implemented the new electronic patient records system. Schedule weekly meetings with staff to discuss how they’re doing with the new software and to get suggestions for improvement. Arrange the issues in order of importance and follow up on them. By doing so, you’ll be helping your employees adapt to the new system, as well as taking steps to adapt the EMR to the way your staff is comfortable working.
Take Full Advantage of Your Medisoft Vendor
McKesson Medisoft is available through third-party value-added resellers, many of whom offer training, implementation tips and other resources to make your adoption of Medisoft EMR painless.
With the right training, your front office staff will come to truly appreciate the many benefits of Medisoft EMR.  Start out using best practices and your staff will adapt to the new EMR more quickly and easily.