CANTON, Mass.– A new case study released by MEDITECH highlights how Wooster Community Hospital Health System in Ohio has reduced nursing documentation time by nearly 1,600 hours annually and eliminated more than 7.5 million clicks through workflow improvements in its Expanse electronic health record (EHR) system.
The “Free Up Nurses’ Time” initiative, or FUN Time, was launched after KLAS Arch Collaborative survey results revealed declining engagement among nurses following the pandemic. The project empowered frontline nurses to submit suggestions for improving documentation and charting processes, which were then incorporated into the Expanse EHR through personalization and workflow optimization.
“The results of the FUN Time initiative have been remarkable — both in terms of operational outcomes and nursing engagement,” said Eric Gasser, Chief Information Officer at Wooster Community Hospital Health System. “We set out to reduce the documentation burden and streamline workflows, and the feedback from our frontline nurses allowed us to exceed every metric we set. This initiative proved how vital it is to involve nurses directly in system design and optimization.”
Working with MEDITECH analysts and representatives from the KLAS Arch Collaborative, Gasser’s team implemented 81 nurse-submitted recommendations. Within nine months, the hospital’s Net EHR Experience Score among nursing staff rose 20 percent, signaling higher satisfaction and greater engagement with system governance.
“Empowering nurses is more important today than ever, so it’s imperative that they play a central role in EHR governance,” said Cathy Turner, MEDITECH’s Chief Marketing and Nursing Executive. “Wooster Community Hospital Health System’s FUN Time initiative exemplifies this by integrating nurses’ perspectives directly into their workflow — a powerful driver of engagement and success.”
Ryan McBeth, Director of Nursing Operations and Special Projects at Wooster Community Hospital, added that the initiative reshaped how the staff view the EHR. “By engaging frontline nursing staff in the documentation and by listening to them, we’ve significantly impacted their perception of the EHR,” McBeth said.
As an independent, nonprofit healthcare provider, Wooster Community Hospital has emphasized autonomy in its technology decisions. “The flexibility of MEDITECH Expanse allows us to make meaningful changes that align with our goals, support our clinical teams, and improve overall usability,” Gasser said.
