When I think about how far we've come with providing care across the entire care continuum, it reminds me of one of my favorite documentaries, Remaking American Medicine. 

One of the patients this PBS series introduces is a woman with multiple chronic diseases. It's clear how important her community is, in making sure that she and her many caregivers are all on the same page.

It goes without saying that nurses are busy. Caring for patients and keeping up with documentation (amidst their many other clinical responsibilities) takes up the majority of their time and resources. However, there are tools that nurses should add to their arsenal, that won’t take more time out of their day, but rather, give time back to them.

I recently attended an Advisory Board session on nurse manager overload and the contributing factors that lead to nurse burnout. We all know that nurse burnout is an issue that affects both staff and patients, so it was an enlightening topic to learn more about.

 Of all caregivers, nurses tend to have the most interactions with patients. They're the ones that inpatients call if something is wrong, and they are also often the point of contact for the patient’s family. So nurses have perhaps the greatest opportunity to create a safer environment for patients.

We all know that things can change in an instant, especially when it comes to patient care. Add to that having a bunch of patients to care for at a time, and prioritizing care and managing patient populations can become rather difficult.

This is where surveillance comes in.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more Americans are likely to die each year from a drug overdose than from traffic accidents. And opioids account for more than three out of five overdose deaths. These scary statistics prompted me to initiate a discussion with MEDITECH’s Nurse Advisory Committee, comprised of 16 clinicians from different specialities throughout the US. From their collective experience, we came up with several ways that nurses and other providers can use their electronic health records to help patients manage pain, without falling into addictive drug use patterns. Here’s our top five: