Open-access free EHR Systems provide healthcare simulations programs with the opportunity to train healthcare professionals in the use of Electronic Health Record systems. Simulated EHR, also referred to as Simulated Electronic Health Records, is a clinical simulation mode of access to a clinical patient’s digital medical history. Simulated EHR can also be referred to as Simulated EMR, or simulated electronic medical records. The digitally stored health information offers patient records that are easily available, reliable, and secure. This article by Erin Carn-Bennett, RN, MSN will discuss two options of free EHR systems that may be useful for use within clinical simulation programs in order to enhance fidelity and upskill clinical simulation participants.
Why Does EHR Matter to Healthcare Simulation
For healthcare simulation educators, access to EHR systems enables learners to be able to acquire best practices for management of digital patient records. EHR data can be used in any healthcare simulation environment to be able to provide a realistic patient background for clinical simulation scenario cases. EHR systems have the capability to be able to document a number of different elements of care such as: laboratory results, radiology images, immunization status and dates, allergy testing, and many more other functionalities. For healthcare simulation participants, access to EHR or EMR can enhance the fidelity of a clinical simulation experience and assist with immersion into the experience.
EHR or EMR for education, assists healthcare simulation participants to be able to navigate evidence-based tools to assist in making clinical decisions for a patient’s clinical care. EHR used in clinical simulation based education can assist to automate and streamline workflows and can help to increase effectiveness and relevance of clinical simulation scenarios for participants. A key manner through how simulated EHR can assist to establish clinical information across healthcare organizations is to allow participants to both create and manage the digital electronic record.
External laboratories, radiology image centers, pharmacies, urgent care and emergency clinics, and clinical specialists are able to quickly receive clinical information required to offer insight and clinical assistance in regards to a patient’s care. Authorized providers are able to offer both insight and expertise for a patient’s clinical care through EHR education technology. Therefore, EHR or EMR fidelity in clinical simulation experiences can greatly assist participants to get the most out of the healthcare simulation scenario.
View theHealthySimulation.com Webinar Online EHR Training for Clinical Education with MedAffinity EHR to learn more!
OpenMRS Provides Open Source EMR Tools
OpenMRS is a leader of open source platforms for Electronic Medical Records. The mission of OpenMRS is to improve healthcare delivery in resource-constrained environments through the coordination of a global community that creates and sustains a robust, scalable, user-driven and open-source medical record platform. OpenMRS are a global community of dedicated and generous contributors who work to build and maintain the OpenMRS platform and other foundational technical products.
A number of international countries have made the choice to use OpenMRS for their EMR system. Without reliable electronic medical record systems, the improvement of health of millions of people in the developing world will remain a challenge. In order to achieve the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals there is a requirement of resilient health systems that are supported by electronic medical records.
Sound medical record systems assist to save lives, resources, and can also assist in the prevention or containment of epidemics. A lot of clinical teams require their EMR systems to be able to connect well with other electronic systems. OpenMRS wants to be able to help integrate with systems that are used by organisations as well as share practical resources. OpenMRS is an open source and free software.
OpenEMR Offers Open Access Management Solutions for EHR Training
OpenEMR is also a popular open source electronic health records and medical practice management solution. OpenEMR has a goal to be a high quality alternative to proprietary counterparts and is run by volunteers and contributors who are committed to protect OpenEMR’s status as a free, open source software solution for clinical medical practices. OpenEMR is ONC certified and there are more details on how OpenEMR completed this on the OpenEMR website blog. There may be some additional costs that may apply for some features of OpeEMR.
Volunteers and contributors have maintained OpenEMR for over a decade. OpenEMR has over 30 supported languages, many customization capabilities, and full data ownership.Users of OpenEMR who require additional support can utilize the OpenEMR volunteer support network or have access to over 30 vendors in over 10 countries.
Features of Open EMR include:
- Scheduling
- e-Prescribing: Prescribe into encounter and send electronically to pharmacy
- Medical billing and CMS Reporting
- Lab Integration: Order labs automatically and integrate the results into a patient’s chart
- Clinical Decision Rules: Navigate complex patient algorithms and ensure quality clinical care
- Advanced Security, HIPAA-friendly and industry-standard password hashing helps to protect from intrusion
- Patient summary screen and demographics
- Flow Board, Vitals, Eye (Ophthalmology/Optometry) Module
- Multilingual support is available in more than 30 languages
OpenEMR is a free, open sourced electronic medical record and clinical practice management software application. OpenEMR can be run on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, as well as other platforms. OpenEMR is freely available and is free to download, use, modify, and upgrade. There are also free documentation features and free support forums available. OpenEMR was released under the GNU General Public License and further details on how OpenEMR completed this can be read on their website blog articles.
OpenEMR has compact and flexible appointment calendars. Calendar features available within OpenEMR include: find open appointment slots, categorization of appointment types, colors that can be associated with appointment types and different facilities, repeat appointments, restrictive appointments, random patient drug screens, previous medical history, current and previous medications and immunization status.
The OpenEMR community maintains security and has the ability to encrypt patient documents. There is active directory support, database connection encryption support and remote access capabilities from web browsers with a suitable security certificate which has been installed. OpenEMR has free online chat capabilities to support users and numerous free and professional support features. OpenEMR is a popular free electronic health record program and has over 4,000 downloads per month. Over 174 developers and organizations have made contributions to code on OpenEMR.
This article has discussed two free open access EHR or EMR systems that can be utilised in healthcare simulation programs. Electronic healthcare records add layers of fidelity to clinical simulation scenarios that are incredibly beneficial to clinical simulation participants. This discussion has demonstrated the capabilities of both of these free software options for clinical simulation educators.
Dedicated Clinical Simulation EHR Systems
For healthcare organizations looking to educate and train in EHR / EMR software for clinical simulation related activities, several fee-based systems exist including:
- MedAffinity
- SimEHR
- EHRgo
- Choice EMR Learning
- EHR Tutor by Elsevier
- ChartFlow
- View more in our vendor list page.
MedAffinity EHR Software Provides Powerful Learner Experience
