Meditech short-cuts..Anyone

Kerrigan 06 · Feb 14, 2007

Are you using a version of Meditech that allows you to use the mouse, or is it one of the keyboard-only systems? When I worked as a tech and unit clerk, I learned without a mouse - now it's hard to use it sometimes when I don't have a choice!

I just started my real nursing job, so while I'm using the same system (at a different hospital), a lot of the documentation I'm doing is obviously different. The F9 key is always your best friend in blank fields - if you're not sure what a question is asking, F9 will either bring up a list of items to choose from or tell you if it's looking for numbers, free text, etc.

Another trick for getting out of windows: F11 or 0-Enter is almost always escape. There is no rhyme or reason to which windows use which.

I won't blame you for loving F5. I find it helps me when I'm charting assessments to almost always pull up the last nurses' notes for the body systems and other compnents just so I can see if there's something I might not have noticed. I then remove those notes and write my own.

F6 gets you going backwards. Great when you get a little Enter-happy.

Sometimes you can use "page down" to save yourself keystrokes if you are trying to get through a lot of lines when viewing assessments, etc.

Whenever you are trying to look up a patient or doctor name, the more letters you type before pressing F9, the closer you will get and you'll scroll less.

I used this more when I was an aide and entered things like vital signs and diet intake en masse - so you might not need it, but if you are in med-surg and take lots of patients you might. In some versions of Meditech there is a "Document interventions by location" feature. You pull up the list of patients in a unit, sorted by room, and use Ctrl to select the ones you want. Then you pick which intervention you want to chart on for those patients; the key here is to again, type as much of that one intervention line in as you can before hitting F9.

I hope this helps a little. I'll post back if I think of anything more.

mediatix8 · Feb 14, 2007

What?!?!?! F5 does what? Are you talking about "nursing notes" or the assessment part? Are you saying if I hit F5 then the previous note appears and I just change what I need to change or add what I need to add? Or are you talking about repeating previous charting like systems assessment? Please tell me. I hope that works for me... I think there are different meditechs out there. I've never heard of F5 doing anything. I know F9, though.

Kymmi · Feb 14, 2007

Our meditech used to have the F5 key function which did bring up the previous info entered however about a year or so ago our hospital changed that so now the F5 key function will not allow you to pull up previous info. They felt that too many nurses were recalling using the F5 key and not really paying attention to what they were recalling so therefore the assessments were not accurate. I love meditech and I can get a admission done in 20 minutes from start to finish. I find the best time saver is learning the codes for the assessment part so I dont have to use the F9 key very often...for example I have learned that DI means dry and intact, pk means pink...etc etc.

OC_An Khe · Feb 14, 2007

From what I gather meditech is customized to each hospital and a lot depends on how yours was contructed and what operating system you are using (mouse or key stroke only). I would talk to the nurse who is working closely with the system and ask what shortcuts were placed in your hospitals system. Personally I hate the meditech system. It has a funny and awkward logic to it.