Intellidot

We keep hearing that we will start this soon, but havent seen it as of yet. Let us know how you like it.

We are going to start using the Intellidot system at the hospital I work in. I was just wondering if anybody is currently using it and what their opinion of it is.

Ok, I'll bite: just what is an Intellidot?

It is a computerized system of MAR similar to the bar code scanning. Just another company and the technology is a little different maybe.

You have a bar code on ur badge, MARs and the pt's ID band and a "caret" that scans the bar code. When you admininister meds you scan the ID band first then the meds and then your badge. We call it PMS....pt, meds, self....lol We go live with the Intellidot next week. It will prompt you to rate pain and also to follow up with a rate. And when you give BP meds it will prompt you to enter a BP and with Lanoxin a pulse. You can also enter a pulse ox when giving Morphine, ect. The one thing I like about it is if another nurse gives a prn for you that nurse has to scan it with her caret but the info will be sent to your caret so there's no giving a prn too early bc your not aware that another nurse has already given it. One of the drawbacks is that you have a certain amt of time to pass your meds and if your late you have to explain to the caret why! LOL I think I will like the system once we get use to it. :-)

Our hospital is also considering the Intellidot system to start later this year or early next year.

We use the intellidot at the hospital I work at they first brought it in while I was a student so I didnt get the chance really not to use it but I know that this system has kept me from making med errors Thats the upside. The downside is it is all by computer so one wrong button and the whole thing goes wrong.

For instance the "caret" first we scan the patients id bracelet then we scan the med if that med is not ordered for that patient it says no order found well if the order is brand new it wont be on there if it is an emergency med it wont be on there anyway if it is on the caret then u give it if it isnt and u know the order is correct then u give it anyway and u can override any med as new medication order. there is a sheet stapled to every room with reasons and such as to why u are giving a certain med either late or early or a new med with no order found they have this little "dot" that u can scan to "omit" or delete the entry if u are not careful u accidentaly scan "omit all" well every med u ahve scanned for the night is now omitted I have done this ONCE and had to go into the computer manually and put in each med that I gave. for those of us computer junkies out there its not that big a deal just a little time consuming for those with no computer skills it is a mess. oh ya and one more drawback lol it tells when ya even a minute late ya know after the 30 or hour u have to give a med. depending on what hospital u are at if we are 31 minutes early it wants to know why and if we are 61 minutes late it wants to know why. there is a little "dot" to scan that says unable to accomadate lead lag time that is my favorite button OF course when u live in OK and there are no rules apparently as to patient staff ratio and we are taking 8-11 patients on the over night shift there are a lot of times that u are unable to accomodate!!!!!

Personally I love the caret and intellidot system.

Christi

The first night using it was difficult but once I got use to it I really liked it. My fav dot is "Omit", reason: "Pt Sleeping" when following up on pain med! LOL I love my caret too!!!

Nightnurse7:

I think you must be crazy if you're "loving" your Caret. :rotfl:

As a traveler I have worked with several electronic MARs, scanning systems etc., and I must say that Intellidot is the most cumbersome, time consuming eMAR I have worked with. It was also the system most prone to causing medication errors. If you click on the wrong dot or accidentally click the CARET at the wrong time it is a pain to correct it. I counted the steps from the time of scanning the patient's band to the time of actually giving the patient the medication and stopped counting at 18! Intellidot seems to be intentionally designed to remove nurses from the bedside and actual patient care and make the job more difficult and stressful.

I have also found that the system is only as good as the Pharmacist putting the info in. There have been a couple of occasions where I have been doing daily MAR checks only to discover that the physician discontinued a med earlier, the order was faxed to pharmacy, but it is still in the patient profile. Call the pharmacist, and they must have "overlooked" that order.

Nightnurse7:

I think you must be crazy if you're "loving" your Caret. :rotfl:

Ok, maybe love is too strong of a verb to use but we are working through our differences and I think we can be friends!

As a traveler I have worked with several electronic MARs, scanning systems etc., and I must say that Intellidot is the most cumbersome, time consuming eMAR I have worked with. It was also the system most prone to causing medication errors. If you click on the wrong dot or accidentally click the CARET at the wrong time it is a pain to correct it. I counted the steps from the time of scanning the patient's band to the time of actually giving the patient the medication and stopped counting at 18! Intellidot seems to be intentionally designed to remove nurses from the bedside and actual patient care and make the job more difficult and stressful.

What other eMARs have you used and which system would you say is the best?