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As new sports seasons start up, Athletic Trainers are usually on the lookout for an EMR solution to help make their jobs, and their lives, easier. So, when you're doing research on software for Athletic Trainers — whether it's for documentation or injury tracking — there are important key features that your EMR should have.
- Mobile - Your EMR needs to be mobile. The EMR must have a mobile app that allows you to document anywhere, at any time. Throw away the pen and paper. Leave the laptop in your office. If the EMR isn't mobile, move on to the next AT software vendor.
- Documentation - All ATs document. It's a fact of life. But your EMR should make it easy to use and quick to do it all, otherwise you or a member of your team might fail to record everything that needs recorded. And if the software is mobile, you'll be able to do it on the field or court, on the bus, or even at home (if you have to.) It should allow see that all your forms are assigned and then completed. The forms should be customizable and allow you to build your own forms and use templates. Having the ability to scan in documents to create PDFs is a must. As well as the ability to accept e-signatures to save time.
- Treatments - The EMR you choose needs to allow you to add treatments. As with forms, you need to be able to customize your treatment options. And being able to duplicate treatments is a time-saver. Does the EMR give you a kiosk mode, where athletes can log themselves in and enter their treatments? If so, make sure you can edit and approve their entries. Doing that will speed up the process. And the EMR should allow you to easily be able to update coaches and parents. Make sure it integrates with your calendar for ease of scheduling, as well.
Incidents & Injuries - EMRs for ATs need to be able to easily create incident reports and log injuries quickly. There should be templates here as well and you need to be able to enter everything - from background info to SOAP notes (and create SOAP note templates!) Hopefully it will also help speed up the SCAT5 process. All this info should be tabulated in real-time for better reporting. Everything should attach permanently to the athletes' records, securely accessible from anywhere.
Side note - Does the EMR your researching allow for voice dictation to make notes? If not, you're going to spend a lot of time typing...- Follow-up Services - A great EMR will allow you to create follow-up services with affiliated organizations (like a clinic, health system, or hospital.) This keeps the athletes/parents informed and shows the affiliated org how many services you are referring.
- Communication - Make sure the EMR helps with communication. If you're spending too much time emailing, calling, texting, and talking individually with athletes, parents, and coaches... your solution needs to help with this. Without giving up your personal number, you need the ability to notify people in groups or individually via text, video chat, and email securely (if needed) and fast.
- Surveys - Speaking of communication, your EMR has to be able to provide the ability to conduct surveys through texting. People, especially young athletes, respond to texts (far better than emails and paper forms.) Make sure any platform you're considering does this. It's a real time-saver with a much higher engagement rate.
Reporting - Your system should provide quality, customizable report features. Hopefully they have a built-in library of commonly-used reports that you can configure for your own needs. And it would be nice if you can use the EMR to associate costs for all the services you provide - it's a great way to prove the value of all that you do. The reports should be easy to create, edit, and send out. And a team report that shows the coach player injuries and availabilities prevents a lot of individual questions and speeds up communications.
Not sure where to find a Athletic Trainer EMR that does all of these things? Well, look no further. Healthy Roster does all of this and more.
Talk to us today and we can answer your questions or give you a quick look into all that we have to offer. We are the leading AT EMR for a reason. We've built a platform just for you that saves you a lot of time and effort!
See for yourself by viewing several short demo videos today:
