EMR question (McKesson)

gtoko · May 7, 2010

I used Mckesson in home health. I thought it was user friendly,didnt really have to many problems with it

shiccy · May 7, 2010

I'm all freaking out about the software, but also the amount of computers on some of the units is vastly insufficient as far as numbers. Have you used other computer systems? How does it stack up to some others you've used? (We're one of two large systems in the area, the other system already went to EMR, but we haven't at all yet. I'll miss my paper charting because it's all I've ever known. I am still on night shift, however, (by choice) so the "flipping" of charts will definitely NOT be missed.

Ahhphoey · May 7, 2010

The hospital where I work prn is also going to McKesson. I can only tell you what the IT nurses have said thus far and they were pretty excited about it. This particular program was chosen over several others including Siemans and Epic (which I am used to from my primary job). We are basically at the very beginning of instituting the program; classes have not yet been set up to teach the staff yet. However, they have already began using the bed flow portion of McKesson and that really sucked initially. Now that we have the hang of it somewhat, its okay. The biggest problem is that the supervisor can assign a patient to any one of our empty beds and we don't even find out we're getting a patient until the sending unit calls to give report. We do have three touchscreen monitors around the unit where staff can "receive" a patient into a room or see when we have a patient moving in or out of the unit, but unless you're staring at that screen all day, there can be a delay in transferring patients out or finding out about admissions coming in.

Honestly, I'm not too thrilled about it, but really need to look more into the complete EMR we'll be using before I make a snap decision.

CFitzRN, ADN · May 7, 2010

I hate it.

(j/k sorry, couldn't resist!)

I too use McKesson in home health and I do NOT find it user-friendly at all. I find it incredibly lame in many ways. It seems archaic compared with other software. It's impossible to tell though, until you yourself sit down and just do it. It's fairly easy to learn functions, but sometimes I'll be looking for something that would seem obvious or basic and it's just not there. This is difficult to convey... I'd wait and just see what you think.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · May 7, 2010

I've used McKesson homecare for 8 years. How software works, depends on how well it is initially set up by IT staff and if all the bells and whistles are purchased/installed. All initial rollouts take about 6 months to get all sections working correctly and staff comfortable using interfaces.

We had 4 RN's leave due to computer system implementation and went to competing agency that was still on paper. Well 2 yrs later, that agency was purchased by another company and closed with staff absorbed into parent company's homecare ---who used Mckesson. :)

When we have a major version upgrade with laptops needing re-image, weekend admit staff are first in line to get their computer upgraded rather than filling out one OASIS paper admit form.