Looking for nurses who work with Meditech, Eclipsys or Cerner

[supermom2]

Hi..........we are now in the discovery phase of deciding which of these three vendors to choose for an integrated system for our large healthcare organization.

I would appreciate hearing from any nurses out there who can share their experiences with the above named vendors. I did post a similar post not too long ago, but I am still collecting comments on this.

Since we have narrowed it down to these 3 vendors, and we need to decide within the next few months, any comments will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks.............Teri

[GoldenLove]

Meditech is easy to learn but yes...sooooo outdated. I know Meditech inside and out but it is "old school" LOL even with the updates and upgrades.

[sscathlab]

We use Meditech and once our staff was trained they like it. The ER is the only one that doesnt really like. However we are getting the ER Module that is similar to the TSheets so they will like it better than what they do now. I do recommend that with what ever system you use do not bring up the nursing documentation with the EMARs at the same time. We did at the insistence of our old CNO and it was HORRIBLE. We had more medication errors because of that, so we stopped emars went back to paper and waited out until the update came. We went live with emars again and havent had that many errors. The nurses are still getting used to it since we have only been live since March.

GOOD LUCK

[mydesygn]

With any hospital wide system, your decision is price, resources, integration

I have worked with Meditech as a full implementation and Cerner with only the order entry. PRICE: When our facility compared vendors about 5 years ago, Meditech had the best price for the features. When you pay several million for a system, you will not change anytime soon. RESOURCES: For Meditech, we have a staff of over 20 IS analysts, each supporting one or more of the Meditech modules. We are using the full implementation of the product. INTEGRATION: Meditech has a fully integrated product. I have used Cerner at another facility which is in the process of dropping that product, they only used the order entry features. In terms of documentation, ALL systems are only as good as the staff that build and design. If you do not have adequate numbers of full time, dedicated, clinically knowledgeable staff who will build and design your documentation and systems based on the functionality of the product -- you will likely not be pleased. I believe no vendor is virtually "out of the box". Being a pediatric facility, we customized much of Meditech and heavily tested all of it's components

[Kabin]

This is an old thread but very interesting.

We use IDX LastWord and although it connects between radiology, labs, MAR, and flowsheets/assessments, it's old with a clunky 16 bit GUI feel. Once you open a window you're stuck there until you complete your task and back out of it. Totally inadequate in today's dynamic multi-tasking nursing world.

From the write-up it looks like Siemans has a well thought out product with task lists and heads-up to lab related information, etc.

[Brownms46]

Thank you all for your responses! We have narrowed down our search to 2 vendors.....Cerner & Eclipsys. I have been doing work with our project manager assigned to Phase 1 of this enormous project, and would like to know more about client education involving the vendor and the staff education department at your facilities. If anyone has worked with implementation and how either one of these vendors approached training at your facilities, I would appreciate hearing about it.

I am interested in finding out how they worked with your facility's education department, what staff-development educators were involved (nurse/medical informatics specialists, RN educators, etc.), how many staff were trained at a time, in what order did the vendor approach training, did the vendor do complete on-site training or did they suggest off-site as well, were application analysts sent on-site to train, etc.

Whatever info you can share would be helpful.

Thank you! Teri

I hope your facility did not chose Eclipsys;l

http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=4238

[Brownms46]

i certainly agree with you, physicians are quite hesitant to change their current practices and we have planned to provide them a very structured and thorough training 8 weeks prior conversion date. a physician trainer will conduct the training as well and there would be a 1 week focus group physicians training for those who are not able to catch up after their 8 week training. i hope that this plan would work and it's a bit difficult dividing my time as an application specialist, ed charge nurse and facility's learning coordinator,,, but i'm really trying my best to make things work out and put it into its proper perspectives. thank you for the brilliant advice.:)

are you saying you are training your physicians "8 weeks" prior to go live? if you have gone thru your implementation already, how did this plan work for you?

[supermom2]

I hope your facility did not chose Eclipsys;l

http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=4238

Would you please share your experience with Eclipsys.....this would greatly help us with our selection of a vendor. What didn't you like about the system? Are you able to share vendor support/training also? Thank you.

[SandBetweenMyToes, BSN, RN]

I worked as part of the team that implemented several Cerner modules across 8 hospitals at Detroit Medical Center. If you want to ask someone who can give you pros and cons, try contacting the Chief Nursing Officer there. PM me if you need more info.

[singingtothewheat]

Meditech at my facility is total junk. JUNK

[rninformatics, DNP, RN]

Singing,

Please don't hold back.

Please tell us how you really feel.

Meditech at my facility is total junk. JUNK

[singingtothewheat]

JUNK I SAY!!!!

[Kabin]

Some of the varying opinions could be related to differences in what facilities were willing to spend and software versions used.

I'm doing field work now, using Cerner's Roadnotes and it's seriously buggy and clunky complete with daily blue screens of death and requires frequent computer rebooting.