OpenMRS Academy Lessons Learned from implementations

Hello community, I wanted to share some feedback from my personal experience of implementing EMRs, and we want to put them together for the OpenMRS academy. These are the kind of tips, that are not often taught and I wish I knew them when I started implementing. It also includes some topics that, even with experience, are worthy to ponder.

  • EMR Objectives: Improving data analysis(research) Vs Making Clinical work easier: Are antagonist forces, EMRs with a lot of data entry(more for further analysis, not necessary for medical need)usually mean more time on computer than seeing the patient… What does your project need most?..how to find the right balance…
  • Retro-active Vs Point of Care: which scenario is best for your context
  • The Change management from paper to digital: What kind of strategy that works for you
  • Expectation management of stakeholders: What an EMR can do and what it can’t
  • Project management practices that work best(Agile or Waterfall or other? Or a mix… is it a one-size fits all strategy?)

What was your own experience? Have you faced these challenges? What would you add?

Khaled

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Thanks for starting this discussion @kbediri. I think change management from paper to digital is a great one and could well integrated in the implementation section of module 2.5 where we could briefly describe what change management means in this context, cite examples of resistance to change and show examples of how this process has been well managed in some implementations.

I seem to recall having discussions with @wanyee and @dictoo2002 a few years ago about the transition from paper to KenyaEMR.

One point that stuck with me was the critical role of facility leadership in making this transition. And discovering that sometimes the people who you think might resist change can end up being champions.

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