Anybody here used Mckesson/Cerner/Meditech systems?

[perseus29]

Hi there,

just curious to see who in here has used software by any of these companies. Last time I used sotware by meditech was in 1999, and i hear not much of that has changed. Currently I use Cerner software and I wondered how does it compare to Mckesson's or any other of the big companies out there. Anybody here has any input? Thanks!

[debx]

I was a Clinical Analyst with Meditech and really liked it a lot. It took a little longer to get comfortable with the "f" keys but otherwise it was a stable system. We just went live with Cerner recently and it's been pretty miserable. Since it's Window's based, the staff seemed to pick it up easier. But, there is frequent down time and the clinical documentation does not flow easily. It's nice because you have immediate access to medical records but you have to sort though a lot of documents to get what you need.

I would give Meditech an A and Cerner a D. I have not used McKesson.

[Biscuit 23]

I have found the the Build-Your-Own systems are for the birds. There is a BOB called ECDS Empower out of Chicago that has an excellent product...and the best thing is, we went live in 45 days!

[EmerNurse, BSN, RN]

I've used both meditech (using that now) and cerner (at a different hosp). The primary thing I remember about Cerner was having to RIGHT click to select and that dipsy little "man" icon that'd come up if the system got confused. Didn't much like it.

I'm comfy with meditech but then I was comfy with DOS long before windows ever showed up. For those folks with no computer experience, they found it difficult.

Would be nice if these things were designed with more input from clinical staff. When you have to start out the new computer class with "this is a mouse....", it's a good indication that the software needs to be user-friendly, eh?

[daubney]

Need an opinion in regard to practice issues related to protocal driven software

Need advice re professional issues with protocal driven software

[Flutemom]

We use McKesson. We are currently going live on the computerized documentation part, having already done the barcoding. I was the lead educator on both systems. The staff has been great. It's taken a lot of "rethinking" of how we have traditionally done things, but they are troopers! Feel free to ask questions, however, I did not do the build.

Good luck!:icon_smile:

[rninformatics, DNP, RN]

Daubney,

Please clarify for me. Exactly what information are you looking for related to "protocal driven software"? Please give me an example of "protocal dirven software"???

Need an opinion in regard to practice issues related to protocal driven software

Need advice re professional issues with protocal driven software

[jillg]

My hospitlal has chosen the McKesson clinical documentation/ER system and EMR. We also use other Mckesson products and have had good support.

[nurse_nan]

I have used Meditech and McKesson. Meditech was a nightmare from the beginning of the build all the way through the implementation. I came in on McKesson in a hospital that had already had it implemented for about 10 years. It's user friendly enough. The build is not hard to figure out - I managed to step into my position and learn the order management side fairly quickly. Once you learn its logic, you can do just about anything. However, that having been said, we are currently in the process of building Epic for all of our system. My hospital will go live with this in 2009 and from what I have heard, it is going very well indeed. I think it will be a big improvement. Long time users here of McKesson are ready for a change.

[CCL"Babe", BSN, RN]

My company uses McKesson's Interqual Criteria for UR. It is the only system like that I have used. Although in the cath lab we charted with a different product from any of those that you mentioned.

We used to use it for certing DME as well.

[KatieRN04]

Cerner is the pits, very hard to use, and not user friendly at all. McKesson is so much nurse friendlier. I also have used a program called IDX and picis, which are both nurse friendly too.

[ralt099]

We have been using Mckessons emergency documentation module for over a year and we love it! The docs still occasionally gripe, but the nurses are happy with it and documentation is improving. We are getting ready to move all systems to Mckesson's horizon suite and we are implementing the horizons expert documentation for all of the hospital. This is the big plunge from paper to electronic record. A little scary, but exciting! It seems to be pretty user friendly.

[CRNI-ICU20]

uh huh. The software our hosp. bought for a whopping $23million dollars SEVEN years ago is JUST NOW being put into "go live" mode....

it's called Carelink....I think it is a product of McKesson. In some ways, it has nice features..but I echo the others here who say that it would have saved alot of money and time, had the decision makers asked the nursing staff....(you know...the ONES WHO ACTUALLY HAVE TO USE THIS STUFF) what features they would like to have incorporated into their daily computer routine. Instead, it was decided on by a group of "deciders" who couldn't agree on much of anything....it was like two raccoons fighting over an ear of corn in a burlap sack!

An example of how this is going to be a nightmare for at least two depts:

Many of our evidenced based protocols, ie sepsis protocols, early goal directed therapy, pneumonia protocol, MI protocol, stroke protocol, do not have a "slot" to write all the information down, as per the REQUIREMENTS OF THE PROTOCOL. So we will, I suppose have to resort to hand documentation of these areas. This is cumbersome in a very busy environment! The other thing that is maddening is that the software REQUIRES that the nurse calculate EVERY HOUR the MICROGRAMS PER KG. of every drip that his or her patient is on....not in MLS./HR. This is a pain in the neck, because many gtts. are not calculated that way...ie, Levophed for instance....or other gtts. who are mcg./kg/min....not hour! It is a nightmare when you are titrating drugs for blood pressure, sometimes every five mins...or every 15 mins....so this "feature" that the deciders thought was wonderful, ISN"T!

It will be interesting to see how we are going to reconcile some of this...

I have hated the paper system....and this hospital is sometimes requiring two and three places of the same documentation....ie braden scale, pain control, neuro checks, (triple charting is a malpractice lawyer's dream come true!) But I am leery of how this will work.....I think for $23 million dollars seven years ago, we could have been more inclusionary of those who actually have to use this at the bedside....duh!