How to Engage Clinicians in Your Technology Strategies

Achieving digital transformation comes with inherent challenges. Ideally, technology should streamline workflows and help organizations make better use of their data.

New solutions need corresponding workforce strategies, especially those related to training and support. This can be accomplished through:

• Refreshing educational materials and approaches.
• Updating workflows and clarifying roles to ensure that processes change with the needs of end users.
• Aligning return-on-investment goals with the broader organizational strategy.
• Engaging front-line managers and informatics teams in their software purchases and rollouts.
• Rigorously vetting and testing new technology for patient safety and workflow compatibility, while focusing on enhancing the user experience to avoid electronic health record (EHR) documentation burdens on clinical staff.

The AHA's 2025 Health Care Workforce Scan provides insights on how to engage clinicians in your technology strategies.

The Case for Continuous Training

Today, leaders are focusing on continuous training that emphasizes not just the use, but the value of new technologies.

For example, Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston used change-management techniques during a major expansion and EHR system implementation. Leaders selected staff from across the organization to bridge the gap between the project team and their peers, helping to translate high-level project information into practical, day-to-day guidance for their co-workers. They also met regularly to exchange ideas and report issues to the change-management team.

Leaders also held dress rehearsals to prepare staff, setting up real-life simulations of the new EHR system. Staff practiced using the system and new processes before the actual launch. This helped employees understand what to expect and reduced anxiety. It also allowed the hospital to identify potential problems, like incorrect user settings, before the system went live. This led to smoother transitions and more positive attitudes during major organizational changes.

For example, hospital leaders compared two business units during the change process. Unit 1, which fully embraced change-management practices, showed significantly better outcomes than Unit 2, which did not. Unit 1’s staff reported feeling more prepared, informed and supported throughout the transition. This was reflected in higher participation rates in such key activities as dress rehearsals, where Unit 1 had more than double the staff engagement of Unit 2.

Before launching a virtual nurse program, which involved new technology for much of its staff, Inova health system in Falls Church, Virginia, held a two-day innovation accelerator event focused on nurse efficiency and well-being. This involved the nursing team in shaping the program’s standards, which helped staff embrace changes to reduce documentation, support a new virtual nurse care model and increase mobile app use for medication administration.

Kaiser Permanente found that addressing nurse perceptions of EHR use was as important as optimizing the actual time spent on documentation. Its nurses felt overwhelmed by EHR use, even though data showed they spent less time in the EHR than average. With the understanding that perception of workload affects stress levels and job satisfaction, leaders showed nurses personalized report cards highlighting EHR time relative to patient loads. They directly communicated with overwhelmed clinicians, building connections and showing them data that proved the value of their time spent documenting.

Anecdotal results showed improved nurse satisfaction and better adaptation to new processes, especially among new nurses. Leaders mentioned that empathy, support and clear communication about the benefits of new tools helped promote engagement.

3 Things to Think About

• How do you seek and incorporate end-user feedback into your purchasing decisions?
• As roles change, how can you position technology as part of broad, continuous process improvement?
• How do you use informaticists to bridge the gap between central hospital decisions and end users?

Download the 2025 AHA Health Care Workforce Scan to learn more.