Is you LTC on a computer system?

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I just started 2 weeks ago, and wondered. My LTC is all paper charting, and there are NO computers on the floor at all. It seems like so much work compared the the hospital. Faxing all the med orders, writing- yes by hand- all our care plans ( and there can be many) trying to figure out who needs what treatment, and when, who needs to be charted on, and for what. It is a lot of work. It seems like a ton of busy work that could be cut way down by computers.

:typing

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Specializes in LTC.

Not the facility I'll be working for unfortunately:( but LTC is where I want to be so I'll have to work with it.

And I agree that computerized charting makes things go sooo much more smoother and faster.

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The LTC where I did clinicals for my nursing assistant class was on computers. They were mounted in the halls all around the facility so the CNA's could do the adl's whereever they happened to be. I'm assuming the nurses etc. were as well but didn't get to see that.

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Specializes in Home Health, SNF.

Our facility started EMR charting in March. To be perfectly honest it has been kind of a nightmare. Our CNA's are having a really hard time understanding the difference between extensive, limited, etc. As well as supervision 1 person or 2 person assist. We have one patient who is late stage dementia/alzheimer's, she doesn't speak and never gets out of her chair without a hoyer lift, some have put supervision while ambulating throughout the unit. It's been a nightmare for our MDS coordinator. Our system is OPTIMUS and it really isn't very nurse friendly.

Our corporate offices insist we figure out how to use it accurately and it's not easy. Any hospital nurses using any systems they find nurse friendly?

Have a great weekend all,

Roxann:typing:twocents:

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.

I wish my ALF had computerized charting!

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

Not yet....but...come 2013 when the EMR law goes into effect, we will be.

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Specializes in LTC, Rehab, hemodialysis.

We just now got the SilverChair program for inservice training. My facility does everything by hand and there has been no mention of updating anything in the future.

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Specializes in ER, ICU, med/surg.

Our facility has this really strange mix of the two. Get this, all CNA charting (ADL's, meals, elimination) is on these little hand held PDA's called Sockets. They can carry them around, and they are actually nice and have really cut down on people ending up on the bowel list. The catch is that ALL the nursing charting is still on paper. We have a book that I check at shift change that indicates who is on alert charting so I know who HAS to be charted on. The only time we use computers is to run an end of shift report and a bowel list. Within the next few years we are supposed to go paperless, but I don't know how well the older nurses will take it....

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Our CNA's use Caretracker software and they are doing a great job with it. We nurses still must do everything by hand with redundancy galore!!!

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

At my old facility in New Bedford Mass, we used CareTracker for the CNAs and Silver Chair for everyone. I loved CareTracker for all the reports I could pull. The plan there was to go all electronic with EMARS and ETARS, but I left before that happened.

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I am in New Bedford now. Our med carts have been fitted with PC holder things that I currently use to hang my steth and other things. So maybe eMar is on the way. That would be so cool.

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The new facility is completely computerized, down to an eMAR and the CNAs using PDAs for their charting. I don't know yet what system it is.

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