Minutes that matter: Federal EHR gives nurses time back for patient care

Streamlined workflows at Dayton VA medical center enhance nursing efficiency

Just after VA’s Federal Electronic Health Record (EHR) went live at the Dayton VA Medical Center, Emily Allan, chief of Mental Health Nursing Service, was rounding with the team. They were done with their morning charting by 10 a.m. That 10 a.m. finish was a milestone that was nearly impossible to hit with the legacy system, and Allan wasn’t the only one who noticed the difference. Across her unit, nurses reported similar small but significant wins in a job that leaves little time to spare.

Faster, safer care with connected EHR tools

One nurse celebrated how quickly she was able to pass morning medications to her Veteran patients.

With the Federal EHR, integrated medication workflows help reduce unnecessary steps and interruptions, allowing nurses to verify, administer and document medications right at the point of care. According to a VA News story about the new EHR transforming medication administration, toggling between the two systems could require more than 15 mouse clicks before a nurse could give medication to a Veteran, slowing down the process and taking valuable time away from direct patient care. That’s why improvements in the medication administration process resulting from the Federal EHR have a significant impact on patient safety.

Down the hall, another nurse sighed with relief that vital signs no longer required manual entry.

With monitoring machines now linked directly to the Federal EHR, readings seamlessly integrate into the patient record. Automatically capturing vital signs from connected machines, rather than entering them by hand, saves time and reduces the risk of transcription errors.

“So, when our vital signs are done on the machines, it now auto-generates to the system,” the nurse said, “and there’s not that double documentation that our other system required.”

By reducing repetitive data entry, nurses were relieved that they no longer had to manage the EHR, creating more opportunity for patient care and less risk for mistakes. That’s exactly what Allan’s team experienced when morning charting and clunky vital sign entry no longer stretched into the workday or took time away from bedside care.

Giving nurses time back for true patient connection

For a mental health nursing unit, those extra minutes make a real difference. The modernization effort streamlines chart reviews, helping nurses surface a Veteran’s health history, past admissions and risk factors more quickly. For Allan and her nurses, the changes started with something as simple as finishing charting by mid-morning. But for the Veterans on her unit, that time back is time spent on what matters most to high-quality healthcare: attention, presence and care delivered by a nurse who doesn’t have to choose documentation over direct patient care.

Visit the Federal EHR Resource Center to learn more.