Questions r/t information systems

[mmm cdiff]

Hi everyone, I'm doing a paper for my Nursing Informatics class, but the individual I've contacted doesn't seem to be responding. I'd appreciate if you could answer at least some of the following questions about the information system at your facility:

• How long has the institution been using the system?
  
• What type of system is it? Hospital, clinical, nursing, financial, or administrative information system.
  
• Where is equipment located, i.e. bedside, Nurses station?
  
• Where is the mainframe located?
  
• Do you use PCs or dummy terminals?
  
• What type of hardware is in use?
  
• What type of software is in use?
  
• What types of applications are on line for nursing?
  
• What does the system connect with? What types of system interfacing has the hospital arranged?
  
• Was there a task force formed to choose the system?
  
• What was involved in training the staff?
  
• Does the institution experience any regular down time? Is there any down time at all?
  
• What are the future capabilities of the system?
  
• What type of support is available either from the hospital staff, or from the vendor?
  
• How many units are currently using the system?
  
• Was there a period during which both manual and automated processes were in motion at the same time?
  
• Did you experience any major snags or complications when choosing or installing the system?
  
• Has the system ever crashed?
  
• Are you satisfied with the vendor?
  
• What are your future plans as a nursing department, and as a hospital overall?
  
• Does the staff like the system?
  
• Has overtime been decreased?
  
• What benefits has the nursing department identified, i.e., decreased costs, increased recruitment etc.?
  
• Do you have a user-support group?
  
• What means is in place for staff feedback and criticisms of the system?
  
• Would you make any changes to the system?
  
• What are your future plans?
  
• What was the greatest cost encountered?
  
• Do you pay an annual maintenance fee?
  
• Can you update the system at no cost?
  
• What is specific to nursing, i.e. care plans, discharge instructions, etc.?
  
• Are there any other hospitals in the area using the system?
  
• What types of security are in place?
  

[rose_njarvis]

I think no responded because it's so long, but I'll try to help you. Our facility is soon switching over to EPIC, but used a legacy system (despite name changes and upgrades) for 10yrs. This system was used by all departments, used in offices as well as clinical stations. Of course there is a mainframe, but location is unknown. PCs are used. Nursing charting and medication administration applications are used. Interface/integration with ER has been created. There has not been crashes in my experience, but frequent scheduled Downtimes. Firewall is the first line of security, and of course user name and passwords, where passwords must be renewed frequently.