Charting Systems

notjustanurse · Apr 11, 2012

I have used PowerChart, Epic, Citrix, TDS and Meditech... and paper charting of course.
Of these, Meditech is THE WORST! (actually TDS was but thankfully the facility quickly changed over to EPIC after I arrived) The facility I am in is still using Meditech 5.3(something like that) and its inadequacies are so frustrating. We've been promised 6.0 for some time but the date keeps getting pushed back.
Among my complaints:
This DOS-based format is absurd
You have to close everything you're doing to look up something else
It's difficult to track past orders, therefore we still do half-half paper orders
It's impossible to view data trends
Have any of you worked with this particular EMR?

Unfirtunately, I am not familiar with Meditech. Our facility just went live on EPIC last month and I find it to be a road block to everything I need to do. I'm hoping that eases with time, but so far its awful.

That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Apr 11, 2012

DOS based Meditech? did they supply you with stone pads and chisels too? The last encounter I had with meditech was all browser based per say with mouse interaction. Was very simple to use.

Now I use medhost and i swear it is the best thing ever. stupid stupid stupid simple charting for the nurses on the go.

Vespertinas · Apr 11, 2012

I swear, we use F keys. Yes, some stuff is clickable but that's like the cutting edge part.

overtonis · May 9, 2012

I worked for Hospital in Florida that was using Meditech (DOS based) and I feel your pain. Alot of f keys still being used. Best system I have used was Sunrise.

RNGriffin · May 12, 2012

Someone beat me to the punch, I worked as the director of health information management for years before going active with my nursing career. With that said, I implemented the usage of sunrise clinical within our acute care facility. If there is any system thats worth the time it's Sunrise Clinical and Epic!

daleosby · May 12, 2012

I have used PowerChart, Epic, Citrix, TDS and Meditech... and paper charting of course.
Of these, Meditech is THE WORST! (actually TDS was but thankfully the facility quickly changed over to EPIC after I arrived) The facility I am in is still using Meditech 5.3(something like that) and its inadequacies are so frustrating. We've been promised 6.0 for some time but the date keeps getting pushed back.
Among my complaints:
This DOS-based format is absurd
You have to close everything you're doing to look up something else
It's difficult to track past orders, therefore we still do half-half paper orders
It's impossible to view data trends
Have any of you worked with this particular EMR?

Vespertinas-

First, my disclaimer...Meditech is the only health care information system (HCIS) that I'm familiar with.

However, I don't find it as bad as you have described. My hospital is using version 5.64. As for tracking orders, I find the audit trails to be very good. One place to start is simply "Order History" in the EMR. There are other, more detailed audit trails.

As for trending data, if you mean blood sugars, temps, BPs, etc, there is graphing capability in the EMR. Standard and custom reports can capture data also.

A very important consideration; Is that if a hospital's administration does not commit the resources to the set up, the go LIVE, the training, and ongoing support, the end user's experience will suffer.

Also, I have some Meditech colleagues who are now learning, implementing and supporting Epic installations. The small sample of anecdotal Meditech vs Epic stuff I'm hearing is Epic is better for the end user, but as for ongoing maintenance, Meditech is better.

Anyway, that is my two cents worth.

BSN #1 · Apr 26, 2013

I have been trained on Epic and partially on Meditech. The systems couldn't be more opposite. Coming from a Trauma Level 1 hospital to a CAH has been alarming on it's own, but when I was instructed to look something up using the F keys, I about choked on my own spit. The system looks outdated, and has it's own language. I have 10 years of nursing behind me, my BSN, and consider myself an educated individual. The codes and terms Meditech uses are just appaulling to say the least. And because not all of the system is activated, it's extremly frustrating to try learning independently. When I was trained on EPIC, I was super frustrated that we had to sit through classes to learn how to click, so it seemed. EPIC was much more user friendly, had an enormous informatic base of choices, and was very accessible. With Meditech, the DOS appearing system is irritating to navigate through, the "dictionaries" are confusing, and the on-line help site is just as frustrating with the "manuals" being in Word instead of PDF files. If you need to go to page 70...happy scrolling in word. It makes me want to move back to the Level 1 hospital.

floridaRN38 · May 2, 2013

Hahhaa!! I use epic where I work and its fine. I worked two shifts at an ER that used the meditech DOS system. I felt like it was something from the 80s!!

janmmm · Jul 7, 2013

where can I get Magic Meditech training online - for doing care plans ? I am a Registry Nurse & I hate asking for computer help. If anyone knows where I can get magic meditech training online , would be really helpful.

stolenspade · Feb 8, 2014

I have used a system called ICIP for most of my charting, but at my new job we use meditech and the F keys are KILLING me.

mcknzkthrn · Mar 6, 2014

I'm a nursing student but I've already run into the joy that is switching charting systems! I was originally trained in McKessen and used that for 7 months of clinicals and it's wasn't too bad (of course that's all I've ever known). Then I decided to do my next semester of clinicals at another hospital an hour away that uses MediTech. I hated it at first. That was mostly because we had a 10 hour training session about things we didn't actually need to know. I understand as a student my needs to the charting system are significantly lower than an RN. However, (I don't know how other schools do clinicals) we are assigned patients and are responsible for writing up a patient profile, care plan, and pathophysiology of their disease process. Aka--we need to know their medical records up and down. After using MediTech for a little while I found that there were some things I really liked about the program that I liked the setup (that helped us students with our data collecting!) However, that was very little. The general set up of the program is ridiculous I get so tired of hitting "F9" to look up one of the only acceptable options to chart (because lord knows you can't type in "CRACKLES" you have to pick the number that corresponds with it -_-) I miss by drop down menus!