Medi-Tech?

I've used Meditech in the past. It is not my favorite computerized charting system (I'm a big fan of the VA's). I have only used the ED module very minimally and found it to be intuitive and much less complex than the inpatient modules. Every computerized charting system is an absolute bear until you become familiar with it. I think each facility really needs to tailor make the system to their own needs.

It was hard to get use to for us. Personally, when a cardiac arrest arrives to the ER, I would prefer to take care of the pt. rather than try to get them registered into the Meditech system. We were all against it, but this is the way that charting is headed across the country. We have gotten use to the ED tech getting all important information in about a critical pt. and us taking care of him/her and writing on any piece of paper handy (usually paper towel ) all the meds, times given, and any intervention done. Later, when the situation is stable, we go back into meditech and document. I still prefer paper charting though.

Is anyone using Medi-Tech's E.D. module? If so, What do you think? My facility is considering the possibility. I also posted this in the general forum, sorry if any problems. Mods, feel free to correct me if I screwed up.

Our facility uses the full Meditech modules. I have also worked at hospitals with Cerner. We use the EDM module although our ED staff is not using the nursing and physician documentation features (we are planning to begin that transition next year) however registration and patient tracking are very intuitive. The thing to remember is that no healthcare enterprise software will "work" for you out of the box. It needs to be customized by your IT staff to mirror your workflow. Your ED staff needs to work closely with the IT person doing the build in order to make it work for you. Meditech's EDM utilizes "trackers", and staus events - these should be built to mirror how a patient progresses thru the ED and they have status events that should serve as "alerts". The key to staff use and acceptance is the customization and the build. Every app (Cerner, Eclipsys, etc..) require this customization. What I have discoveref in most facilities is that the reason staff "hate" a product has less to do with the product and more to do with a lack of user involvement in the "build" process and a lack of available IT support by the facility.

Consider a phased implementation- start the staff with the trackers, reception, status events etc.. initially. Let them get used to using the system and then later begin nursing/physician documentation. A phased approach is easier for the staff and will help make the project more succesfull. Depending on the size of your organization - allow 6mos for the initial build, pilot about 2mos, go live for at least 6mos without documentation and then begin the build for documentation.

Works for us well enough

goes down to often for my liking

but I hate all computers anyway

I have never used it but the ED that I work at didnt care for it so much that they went back to paper charting. We are currently switching to T Systems.:innerconf

My facility went with a program called PULSECHECK. The team looked at several different programs and chose this one. One of the main reasons was because of the rarity of down time- twice since we went live in Nov 06- its internet based. Both times I think it was due to the hospital intranet server and not the program itself.

Rj