Becker's Hospital Review

88 CIO / HEALTH IT UCHealth analyzed reports in Epic to simplify nurses' documentation By Naomi Diaz A urora, Colo.-based UCHealth saved nurses 64,800 hours by simplifying documentation pro- cesses within its Epic EHR system. e hospital used reports in Epic to discover that nurses were spending more than 30 per- cent of their 12-hour shis working in the hospital systems EHR. e hospital formed "Project Joy" in 2017 to incorporate tech- nology that provides several distinct tools to capture patient data, according to Bonnie Adrian, PhD, RN, research nurse scientist and clinical informatics of UCHealth. Project Joy was able to optimize nursing documentation across the hospital by re- ducing 18 minutes of time spent in flow- sheets per nurse shi, reducing the amount of time and number of actions needed to complete documentation and cutting the required nursing documentation for the av- erage patient by more than half. Here's how UCHealth did it: • UCHealth created a team of nurses to identify unnecessary documentation. • e nurses worked with informaticists to show flow sheets only when necessary. • e team reviewed proposed changes with all organizational stakeholders. • e team measured outcomes using EHR tools and qualitative assessments. • UCHealth created processes for nurses to suggest future documentation improve- ments. n HHS: What cybersecurity means for healthcare in 2022 By Katie Adams H HS challenged healthcare organizations to incorporate new cybersecu- rity tactics to protect their organizations from new and ongoing threats in a March 3 Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center report. HHS recommends healthcare organizations continue to improve their defens- es on the most common threats, but to also bolster security for new technolo- gies that could be targeted by hackers. Here are five advisories the HHS recommends for healthcare organizations to improve their defenses in 2022: 1. Healthcare organizations are frequently targeted by phishing attacks. This year, organizations should continue to test phishing programs and train em- ployees on how to combat and identify phishing attacks. 2. Remote access technology such as virtual private networks or technologies using remote desktop protocol should be used sparingly. 3. Analyze how your healthcare organization can be compromised by your suppliers, vendors, business partners, customers and service providers. 4. Be aware of new threats or new cyber criminals who may pose a threat to your healthcare organization. 5. Utilize government resources designed to help protect healthcare organiza- tions from cybersecurity threats. n 'Contract CIOs' gaining popularity By Katie Adams M ore CIOs are taking interim, fractional or project-based roles in which they hold the top IT position, yet are not company employees, CIO reported Feb. 21. Hiring a "contract CIO" may benefit companies that are too small to need a full-time CIO, have short-term needs that require additional IT leadership, or need a CIO with expertise in a certain area, such as mergers and acquisitions, according to the report. Contract CIOs make different career choices, CIO reported. Some work for multiple companies at once and split up their time among clients while oth- ers work for one client and dedicate only as many hours as the role requires. Some stay with a client for years in a part-time role until the company is stable enough to require a full-time IT executive, while others become interim CIOs and lead IT efforts until the company finds a permanent CIO. "[It's a] great way to access talent you might not be able to access full time. You can hire someone who is excellent at transforming IT and then promote an internal person or hire externally to carry it forward," George Westerman, co-chair of the MIT Sloan CIO Leadership Awards, told CIO. "A contract CIO can be an excellent way to improve the performance of IT. A fractional one can be an excellent coach for one of your internal people who isn't quite ready for the executive ranks." n

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