Older nurse lacking computer skills

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I have a problem. My mother who is 60 years of age has been a home care hospice nurse since the dawn of man. She is awesome at it. It is her passion and at this point in her life it is a huge part of her identity. Unfortunately about a year ago she suffered some health problems and is no longer able to do it because of physical limitations. A few months ago she was hired by one of the larger health care companies in the state as a triage nurse in their call center. Again she is dealing mostly with hospice cases which she likes but she is really struggling with the technology aspect of her new gig. She is putting in extra hours trying to learn but she is so worried that she is going to get canned because of her lack of computer skills. So I guess the point of my post is to see if any of you all have run into this issue and if there are any miracle classes or programs out there that will help teach her some skills. She is an awesome nurse and doesn't want to be put up on the shelf just yet! Please help!

Specializes in ICU.

Epic Hyperspace?

They have amazing tutorials - they take a few hours but are very thorough. We had to take them before we started clinicals because it is what the two major hospitals in this area use.

I would be surprised to hear that she didn't get this training at all -- like I said, they are very thorough and if you have a somewhat un-savvy tech person anyway, it will take more than one go round to understand it. She should ask to have those tutorials again. They really are great!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

epic can seem cumbersome in the beginning. have her talk to your help desk and get her smart phrases inputted and that will speed things up considerably

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

She should be getting support from her employer.There is no reason for them to expect her to function in the workplace without the proper instruction.This is their responsibility.Where I work new employees get at least 3 full days of computer training plus we can call the informatics nurse anytime we have questions.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Transitional Care, Home Care.

AKreader- I think she did have this training but like you said she is a bit tech un-savvy so it didn't stick as well as it could have.

loriangel14- I completely agree with you and I suspect that they would give her support but she is so scared that if she admits she is having problems they will single her out as "old nurse" and get rid of her. I don't think that they will do this because obviously they value her experience enough to have hired her and invested in her initial training. I think it is sad that her experience has taught her that her years could work against her that way.

Thanks again everyone!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Peds/Neo CCT,Flight, ER, Hem/Onc.

Epic is a PITA and I say that as a Superuser! I find the biggest obstacle for older users who are not tech savvy is the fear that they are going to break something if they click wrong. Tell her that there is absolutely nothing she can do that will break the computer or cause a major meltdown of Hyperspace. Like I tell some of my friends there's nothing they can do to their kids that a good therapist can't fix and there's nothing she can do to Epic that a reboot can't take care of. Also, the tutorials are available by clicking on the Epic tab.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Does your mother have a computer at home for personal use? You should direct her to this site! I think just getting familiar with using a computer for leisure (knowing which buttons do what) would help.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Intermediate care.

I'm one of the youngest on my unit, and we have many older nurses who lack computer skills and often need help. Almost every day i am helping one of them. Don't get me wrong, i am VERY happy to do it because, well...i can and i have computer skills. Anything new with the computer (i.e. our new doctor paging system which is AMAZING). I rock at it, i can find any doctor on call for any patient and any time within 1 minute. Other nurses on the other hand go nuts all morning trying to figure it out. then they come to me for help.However; on the flip side, i go to them with everything non-technology or computer related. If i have a patient i can't get a foley in...i grab one of my senior nurses. I go with them to do it and they teach me their tips and tricks on getting a foley in.

I don't think they can fire her for lacking computer skills. We all have things to learn, and no matter what age you are..you will always continue to learn. Your mother in law has much skills and knowledge that she will be able to pass on and teach to newer nurses. and the newer nurses will be able to help her with computer skills. I respect my senior nurses, they have SOOOOO much to teach us! i love having them around, even though i laugh a little on the inside at their computer skills.

-"Jenni, how do i sign into my email?"

inside i was like "what do you mean sign into your email? we've had this email system for 4 years now and you've never used it?"

as i proceeded to show her she says "Thanks Jenni. I don't know how many times i need to be taught this." she ended up writing it down and keeping it in her mailbox for when she next needs to check her email :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in hospice.

This reminds me of a conversation I had with my MIL about my FIL once. She got on my case for expecting my FIL to know something he should have known, telling me he wasn't raised that way. Well, OK, but he's been around for 60 years and spent less than 20 of those under his parents' roof. So what's his excuse for the ensuing 40 years?

My point is this: computers have been important in the workplace since the mid to late 1980s. That's 25 years. Why has your mother taken no steps to keep herself current with the demands of the economy for TWENTY FIVE YEARS? If she expected to be employable, then she should have made sure she had the skills expected of employees.

She needs to take responsibility for finding resources to teach her how to use computers. If her employer provides them, great. If not, search. If she's worried about employers dismissing her as "an old nurse," she should be more worried about them dismissing her as someone who made no effort to stay current in her field.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

That seems a little harsh considering that computer charting is fairly new and that the OP is here asking the questions tells me that her mother IS making an effort.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Urology, Nephology, Internal Medicine.

What about the Dragon voice system. Cost about $100.00 and allows for dictation of notes once accessed. Check it out it may be able to help.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in being a Credible Source.

Some thoughts:

1) Our Epic deployment has a training module with fake patients to work with, and it can be accessed from home - without someone looking over your shoulder.

2) Epic can be customized (to a degree) to suit the individual insofar as layout, toolbars, menus, etc. Somebody needs to be certain that her workstation is exactly the same as the one on which she was trained.

3) The big thing that I've encountered with some folks is that they don't approach it with confidence and the mindset that "it makes sense to someone." They see it as a collection of random and unrelated buttons and fields, rather than a coherent set of controls and interfaces. Someone needs to try to get her to understand the underlying logic of the deployment and the workflow.

** Personally, I'd be glad she has Epic over some other choices (specifically NextGen and HMS - los dos se chupan). **

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in kids.
This reminds me of a conversation I had with my MIL about my FIL once. She got on my case for expecting my FIL to know something he should have known, telling me he wasn't raised that way. Well, OK, but he's been around for 60 years and spent less than 20 of those under his parents' roof. So what's his excuse for the ensuing 40 years?

My point is this: computers have been important in the workplace since the mid to late 1980s. That's 25 years. Why has your mother taken no steps to keep herself current with the demands of the economy for TWENTY FIVE YEARS? If she expected to be employable, then she should have made sure she had the skills expected of employees.

She needs to take responsibility for finding resources to teach her how to use computers. If her employer provides them, great. If not, search. If she's worried about employers dismissing her as "an old nurse," she should be more worried about them dismissing her as someone who made no effort to stay current in her field.

Ouch....

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment