Impact of computers on pt care and workflow

[HINFgirl]

Hello everyone,

I'm a health informatics grad student looking at the impact of computers on nursing units. We are in the midst of implementing an electronic patient records that will be shared among a group of hospitals in Canada and are trying to identify the concerns/benefits of placing computers in different areas on nursing units.

What is your experience having computers in a patient's room for charting?

- how does this affect patient care and your interaction with the patient?

- what measures/procedures have you instituted to make sure the use of computers doesn't violate infection control standards?

If anyone works with Psych patients, how have you dealt with the possibility computer equipment can be used as a weapon or endanger patients whether it is in the room or placed in a hallway or a computer on wheels?

Where are the best places to install computers or store computers on wheels (COWs) on your unit? How does this enhance/inhibit your workflow?

Thank you in advance for your input- it is greatly appreciated. If interested, I also have another post in the Nursing Informatics board.

Cheers!

[elthia]

I could not survive without computer charting and bar code med administration. the chart, labs, MAR, everything is linked together.You can go back as far as you need to in the patient's record. If the patient has a violent hx it's flagged first thing when you open the record.

When the computers are down, I'm lost.

[stdntograd06, BSN, RN]

My place of employment has used Millenium Pharmacy for computerized medication administration and I'm wondering if anyone currently uses them or have in the past. They are a fairly new company and specialize in long term care medication administration. We have had numerous problems with this company :angryfire and comments from anyone else on their experiences would be greatly appreciated.