P17 - The SAFER Guides: An Evaluation of Informatics Professionals’ Knowledge and Organizations’ Use

Patient safety related to health IT is a significant issue in the US with rapid deployment of electronic health records (EHRs) and other point of care technology. In development of a national strategy to address potential unintended consequences of EHRs, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) funded and initially deployed a series of assessment and intervention recommendations called the Safety Assurance Factors for EHR Resilience (SAFER) guides. Presently, there is a lack of evidence indicating whether healthcare leaders are aware of the guides and if so, the extent to which these guides have penetrated the healthcare industry. This project will address this gap in evidence through assessment of nursing informatics leaders’ awareness, use, and perceived value of these tools.

The goal of this study is to assess utilization of the SAFER guides by nursing informatics leadership across the country in order to inform strategies to improve their utilization and application. Foundational to an improvement strategy is a thorough assessment of the current state. This project will provide that assessment and make recommendations to national leadership and policy makers on how to improve upon the SAFER guides for their intended purpose. The presentation will report the findings of the national study on the SAFER guides supported by ANIA.

The aims of the study were met by a descriptive exploratory study seeking input from the ANIA membership. The ANIA board of directors invited membership of ANIA to complete the SAFER guides survey, including a demographics survey and a recently developed survey assessing knowledge, value, use, and barriers to use of the SAFER guides. The findings of the study will be utilized to inform improvement strategies and policy recommendations to increase value and use of the SAFER guides.
The aims of the study were to examine the current level of awareness of the SAFER guides among ANIA membership, describe the perceived value of the SAFER guides to the ANIA membership to address patient safety and health IT, evaluate the current use of the SAFER guides, and describe barriers to implementation of the SAFER guides.