NextGen EHR Dermatology Training Experience

We went to Southlake Texas for our Core EHR training.

I’d first like to say that I really enjoyed Southlake Texas. The training location is amidst hundreds of shops, many great restaurants to choose from for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, a movie theatre, bookstore, and a nice hotel. We flew into Dallas/Fortworth, and took a taxi to the hotel. We didn’t need a car, as we were able to walk around this large outdoor shopping complex easily from our hotel.

The core EHR training was difficult at times because a good portion of the training is going through the templates to understand how they function. And of course the training is geared toward internal medicine, or family practice. I was trying to follow along looking through the dermatology templates, but there are many specialty specific things that didn’t match up.

We knew ahead of time that this would be the case, so we scheduled a Webex for dermatology specific training with a trainer who knows the dermatology templates.

During our dermatology specific training there were several times when the trainer had to apologize for the inadequacies of the template. Other times when I asked questions about how to document a particular item, or why the system allowed you to document inconsistent information (pathology template allows you to have a diagnosis different than the ICD code selected), she was stumped.

The training is essential, and it gives you a base so you understand how things work. I really feel that playing around in your test database is the most useful training method after you have these basics.

Once you play with the system, you’ll quickly figure out what works, and how it is best modified. I’ve decided to extensively modify the NextGen dermatology templates.