Computer charting in hospice

Specialties Hospice

Published

Now before some may see this thread and think "another nurse, not computer savvy, complaining of computers..." think again. I've worked with computers all my life and charted with computers throughout my experience in the hospitals. Some good, some better than others, some not great at all. My hospice agency has recently switched to laptops and POC program charting for the last two weeks. It's awful. I've managed to be somewhat proficient to a certain degree but it is horribly long and tedious. The families want to talk with my face to face, not have me staring at a computer screen. The forms are longer and the navigation is clunky and archaic. So I'm ending up doing a lot (1 1/2 hours +) of work at home spent charting.

I'm so down, I'm already a bit overwhelmed at the task at hand, much less feel like my "time off" is no longer. I tried making it "fun" and did it "watching" a movie with my fiancé. Bad move.

I absolutely love my job, get multiple compliments, and I think I just do a good job, however, this isn't going to jive. Immediate management is aware we (nurses) are struggling, but since it's corporate call we can't do much. Sure, I can send a long winded note to corporate, but I don't think that's going to be all swell. Would love to hear from nurses with similar experiences or any words of advice. How many of you use computers? How much work is being done at home???

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med/Surg, Tele, Dialysis, Hospice.

It is a huge learning curve, but I guess the best I can tell you is that you will get quick and proficient with it if you hang in there, and since it's a corporate decision, yep, their way or the highway is usually how it goes. If you complain to anyone it will appear that you "aren't willing to be flexible", and this is one of nursing management's favorite mantras when they want drastic change and don't want resistence to it.

I'm curious to know which computer software your company is using? I have used hospice software that I thought was very good (Suncoast) and very poor (Care Anyware). If you are using Suncoast, I can tell you that I found it quite difficult at first but that after a few months I got to be quite adept at it and learned to really appreciate the way that it expedited things...and I am one of those old school nurses who learned to type on an electric typewriter, learned to chart on paper, and needed to hire someone to come into my home and teach me how to use the internet when it first came into use, so computer proficiency is not one of my strong points (although I'm getting a lot better...sometimes wisdom comes with age, I guess, lol).

Hang in there. It will come!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I just started in hospice and I'm scared to death of that little laptop.. I'm a new grad so ya....

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Manolo65

Apparently i can't said PM's anymore because i need to create like 15 topics to use there messaging system. So, good luck to the both of us i guess. :)

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Manolo65

Apparently i can't said PM's anymore because i need to create like 15 topics to use there messaging system. So, good luck to the both of us i guess. :)

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

Booooooo.. I was starting to like this site too haha

Up Vote Up Vote ×

The program's name is laptor. It was developed by our company (first mistake).

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in PICU, NICU, L&D, Public Health, Hospice.

I also have used Suncoast and it is much easier to complete point of service documentation in that software than in Horizon, which is what we are using in my current job.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in LTC, Sub-Acute, Hopsice.

twedles, how is Horizon? My company uses Horizon and has been promising to switch from paper documentation for the past 4 years, and now is saying by 2014 (the date CMS says everyone has to be electronic, ironically). We have one office trying the e-documentation now (we are a nation-wide company) and are waiting with baited breath for our chance. I just switched to night-on-call, and one of the (many) reasons was I was tired of doing paperwork at home on my evenings/weekends off. And admissions are a horror story in paper form. I swear I write the same info on at least 3 different forms, and the entire process, once the actual visit with the patient is over, can take up to 3 hours!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I have swithed to computer charting as well. In the beginning it was terrible just as you described, however once we got use to it we end up loving it.

A few weeks ago we had to chart on paper because they were updating the system and we were going crazy. I can't imagine going back to paper charting.

Hang in there! give it a few months it will get better, i promise.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in PICU, NICU, L&D, Public Health, Hospice.

No question that a good electronic chart is preferred over paper for MANY reasons.

I find Horizons cumbersome and un-intuitive for hospice. The fact that it is a homecare application tweaked to provide hospice documentation is obvious at every turn. It is difficult to practice POS documentation with the program because it is timeconsuming to complete.

If I had my druthers we would be using Suncoast.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in L&D, Hospice.

Suncoast can be what the company makes it! initially ours was dreadful! later on, once we got an IT person who knew the stuff, it kept getting much easier! entries carried over from one page to another, and we actually saved time! if you switch from what ever to some thing new it will always take longer, just because it is different; once you learn the little short cuts and things, it is not so bad! However the suncoast training person, who came to introduce the new and great changes was a waste of time! Out IT person worked so much better in tweaking and changing the fields to fill in per our requests (get rid of things we did not use, put in fields we needed)

but i am out of the rat race for now and do not miss charting ONE TINY BIT!!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment