Honolulu-based Hawaii Pacific Health created an initiative, dubbed "Get Rid of Stupid Stuff," that created simple fixes to tasks within the EHR that clinicians felt were poorly designed, unnecessary or nonsensical, The Harvard Business Review reported Sept. 26.
The health system found that staff spent 1,700 nursing hours per month on documenting, so they rolled out the initiative in 2017.
The initiative started by getting staff to write down anything within the EHR that was taxing, and in the end Hawaii Pacific received 200 suggestions.
Two nursing leaders then created a triage system to determine next appropriate steps.
For instance, simple fixes, such as removing a umbilical cord prompt for patients who weren't newborns, went to the "Get Rid of Stupid Stuff" team, while more complex fixes were handled by EHR working groups.
Anytime something dubbed a "stupid stuff" idea received the green light, the EHR working group would invite the individual behind the original nomination to help with the redesign.
According to the publication, the initiative produced meaningful results.