PeayNotes: Content Management System-based Software for Managing Academic Electronic Health Records (AEHRs)

In this paper, we outline the history of efforts to convert nursing student-led paper records to Electronic Health Records (EHRs) in the academic setting. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009 helped to pave the way for advancements in the usage of technology in the healthcare industry. Nursing education plays a pivotal role in the development of key skills in nursing informatics. Early exposure to EHR systems is imperative to producing nurse graduates who are competent and comfortable utilizing healthcare technology. Based upon this need, we proposed a system built on the content management system WordPress and titled the system as "PeayNotes." PeayNotes has been in use for the past two semesters at Austin Peay State University School of Nursing, where nursing students have used the software in an educational simulation lab setting. The success of the project is evident by the expansion of use in additional nursing courses and student/faculty feedback through an anonymous survey. A key feature is the ability to tailor the system to fit individual course needs readily. The paper outlines the need for an EHR documentation system in nursing education, the beginnings of the initiative, and the future perspective works. We conclude the paper with a detailed account of the student and the instructor's reactions to the software through an anonymous survey.