How do you document telemetry in a paperless system?

Nurses General Nursing

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The medical center where I currently work is very focused on going paperless, and has made many advances toward a truly paperless system. However, one of the things we still document on paper is telemetry strips. What process, systems or equipment are other organizations using to document telemetry interpretation in a paperless manner?

Thank you.

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Specializes in ER, ICU.

We still post a strip in the chart. Although our EPIC is getting upgraded, strips will be sometime in the future.

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We still have paper strips posted in the chart, however on our computer system under assessment, they do have a section for tele description, e.g. sinus, tachy, a fib, pvc's, etc.

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Specializes in CVICU, ED.

Same here as mentioned by the other posters. We document the rhythm in Epic i.e. NSR, ST etc. We also have space below that to chart the measurments. The tele tech prints out a strip on each patient, pastes it to a tele page and puts it in the hard copy chart. There is the abiity to scan the tele strips into Epic which can then be viewed later.

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Specializes in Cardiac, ER.

Our monitors are connected to our charting software,..I just click the VS et the strip I want and it's pulled to the chart. We do still chart under cardiovascular the rate et rhythm.

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Specializes in Cardiology/Telemetry.

we still do paper strips but i think they eventually get scanned into our system.

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My small hospital ICU uses Meditech in junction with Philips monitoring. The interface between the two costs over $300K, so we're stuck printing out strips q4h & w/ any status changes then entering the measurements into Meditech then at the end of each 12h shift, scanning them into Meditech manually. I personally think it is insufficient and inelegant, but seriously $300K for an interface is bordering on ludicrous.

Measurements entered into the computer include:

HR, PR, QRS, QT, Rhythm, Ectopy, ST-segment analysis, and space for comments.

I'm picky though, as a Critical Care tech I find the philips monitoring system deficient on ST-segment monitoring and that it rarely coincides with manual EKG's even with utmost care taken for lead placement.... But then, that is another whole story no?

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Our monitors are connected to our charting software,..I just click the VS et the strip I want and it's pulled to the chart. We do still chart under cardiovascular the rate et rhythm.

Do you mind telling me what monitoring system and documentation system you use? I have been researching and have had a hard time finding a system that will carry over like this.

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Specializes in Cardiac, ER.
Do you mind telling me what monitoring system and documentation system you use? I have been researching and have had a hard time finding a system that will carry over like this.

Our system is fairly new to us,...Medhost for charting software, GE monitors. We can even do the EKG with the monitor and have it electronically sent to the cardiologist on call.

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You might want to check out Excel Medical Electronics, they are supposed to be able to save all alarms and waveforms forever and then let you go back and create shift strip reports and send them to your EMR.

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with regard to excel medical electronics and their bedmaster system, you can also now connect the mvisum alert system into the patient monitor network through bedmaster to allow transmission of alarms to mobile devices like smartphones (http://www.mvisum.com/mvisumalert.php). the system sends alarm details, waveforms and even a live stream of the monitor that is viewed remotely on mobile devices. the whole system is configurable to existing workflow. i know of a few hospitals who have moved to this system and are very happy. in fact they feel that it has improved their ability to react to critical events. might be worth looking into.

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The medical center where I currently work is very focused on going paperless, and has made many advances toward a truly paperless system. However, one of the things we still document on paper is telemetry strips. What process, systems or equipment are other organizations using to document telemetry interpretation in a paperless manner?

Thank you.

They can scan these documents into a computer.

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