When it comes to any type of business within the service industry, most professionals and consumers will agree that a strong reputation goes a long way. While price, accessibility,and convenience can all play a role in helping a customer choose one service over another, at the end of the day, it is often a business’s reputation that helps set it apart from the competition.

Although the medical field takes the notion of customer service to an entirely new level, plenty of professionals today are coming to recognize the importance of patient satisfaction as a driving force for operational and logistical decisions within their practices. In fact, it is for this very reason that many are finally taking the notion of electronic health record integration much more seriously.

The recent push toward EHR implementation throughout the healthcare industry is an initiative that, believe it or not, was designed to benefit patients more so than anyone or anything else. The fact that EHR usage can save providers time and money down the line is merely the icing on the customer-oriented cake, as today’s EHRs are designed to ultimately expedite patient care, improve communications among various providers, and eliminate the margin for error that has made malpractice insurance a much-discussed topic in the medical field.

While the use of an EHR system within a given practice can certainly work wonders for its reputation, patients are only likely to start noting the benefits if all staff members and medical professionals are truly on board. To reach this point, all employees must be properly trained on the ins and outs of EHR usage, and in a manner that does not compromise patient care while the program is being initiated.

The problem that some providers have had with EHR training is maintaining a high standard of patient care while allowing employees to get the education they need to utilize their new software effectively. Seeing as how there are only so many hours within a single day, some employees tend to struggle tremendously throughout the EHR training period, as finding the time to cater to patients while attending classes can be next to impossible. This is precisely where eLearning comes to the rescue.

With the right learning management systems, practices that offer employees EHR training online can prevent the rollout phase of implementation from negatively impacting patient care. Because eLearning offers employees the opportunity to educate themselves on their own time and at their own pace, those tasked with the notion of doing their jobs while learning new software no longer have to sacrifice one for the other. From a business standpoint, the ability to strike this ideal balance is crucial, as it enables practices to implement EHRs without risking their reputations in the process.

Although providers in the midst of rolling out EHRs do have the option of coming clean to their patients about the potential for short-term upheaval, hanging a sign in the waiting room that reads “pardon our dust while we take steps to improve our services” is something that most would clearly prefer to avoid. With eLearning, those striving to ultimately benefit their patients via EHR usage can get the training they need without

having to worry about compromising on service; and in an industry where the customer is always king and a solid reputation can be awfully difficult to come by, when it comes to EHR implementation, nothing speaks louder than keeping things status quo.