Computerised Medication Charts

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Specializes in Jack of all trades, and still learning.

How many of you use computers for administration of medications instead of signing paper medication charts? I have had experiences when it crashes - it has happened twice to me. The second time the system was down for two hours at the busiest time in the morning and the whole ward couldn't give their medication. It is also very inflexible. You cannot get your medications organised. You are just waiting for the computer to 'turn over' so you can finally give them; and then the run is on.

Just interested in your experiences...

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Specializes in L&D, PACU.

I kind of like ours. It has a bar code reader, we scan the patient, the med, and our badge. We have flexibility. We can hold a med, or give it at a different time, or chart that it was given by someone else. I think it cuts down on the "so tired you can't see straight" type of errors.

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We use computerized charting. The current MAR is printed out at the end of the previous shift for the next shift. That way you have a hard copy to organize yourself with. The same is done with the nursing worklist.

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Specializes in ICU, ER, EP,.

I hated ours at first, and while all the 'bugs" were getting out of it it was a pain in the neck. Then I realized I could scan any med and administer it early or late. It does catch errors. It seems clumsy and difficult at times but becomes easier. They may be still working with it.

It does go down, on rare occasion and we revert to the old paper system. Good luck and be patient. believe it or not, it seems much more worrysome, to not have this checking behind me!!!

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Specializes in Jack of all trades, and still learning.

Ours doesn't use a barcode. We just use our userid and password to access the system. And they don't back up on paper every shift. I wish they would. You have to take the whole computer/laptop to the patient (its on wheels) and check the five rights. Not easy in a small room. When the system crashed that day...it was a nightmare. Not only could you not give essential meds, you couldn't give pain relief either. I've decided the next time I have a problem, I'm going to write an incident report. After all, it does affect the administration of medications...

We can delay medications, we can withhold medications and we can give nurse initiated medications. I like all of these ideas. And I like the fact that you can just bring the screen up and see, "oh, this is what I have due now" without going through everything. And you can see if someone else is snowed under and may need a hand. And your senior can also see if you need a hand.

But there are also serious implications when things go wrong.

BTW I love computers. Obviously, or I wouldn't be on 'Allnurses'.

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Specializes in ICU, Cardiac Cath/EPS Labs.

I love our computerized MAR--much more efficient, accurate, and reliable than the paper charting (which I did only in school--thank God)...the system has only gone down twice in about a year, but we have paper back-ups available and, even though the system was "down," it was still possible to glean some info from the computerized records...And PAPER MARs are not 100% reliable, either,--I remember from clinicals how sometimes the MAR book would be missing or some doctor may have taken out the sheet for a particular patient and forgeot to put it back....

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Specializes in Jack of all trades, and still learning.

Maybe there are more efficient systems than the one we use. I'm all for the principle, but the way ours is going at the moment...

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