If you are moving from paper documentation to computerized documentation, you are negotiating a mine field. Here are a list of items from my experience you will want to consider.
1. You do need Administration buy-in in a big way, because this switch will affect every player in the system. You will have some folks at every level who will not like the way the new system rolls out. You want a strong, supportive Administration who will help sooth those doctors who find themselves uncomfortable with how to now know what nursing is doing. 2. There is a ditch on either side of the road. On the one side, is the preference to take your current paper charting and simply convert it to computer. The pros of this are that your users will be very familiar with the questions, and there will be little time spent trying to decide what should be asked, and where. The cons of this are that your charting was designed for paper and will not take advantage of what makes a computerized system strong, and you have inherited questions that probably no longer make any sense. On the other side of the road is the preference to throw away everything you have been using at your facility and make everything new. The pros of this are that you can maximize the new system. But, the cons are that folks in your facility who have labored over making your paper documentation safe and legal are disenfranchised. The middle of the road approach is best, but it will be hard to keep your project in the middle of the road. 3. Make multiple site visits. If you travel to facilities where Meditech is working well, and has been for some time, you will see how some facilities have evolved Meditech into a 3rd or 4th generation software. As it comes straight out of the box, Meditech is fairly plain vanilla, and doesn't maximize the potential. If you simply go straight from dictionary training to implementation, you will find yourself in a constant rebuild state trying to catch up with the rest of the world. By visiting several different facilities, you will see many ways to skin the cat, and will find some things from each facility that appeal to different members of your team. 4. Build your core team of forward thinkers who have a thick skin. You will get strong opinions expressed from many sides. Once you have decided on a middle of the road approach, some of those expressing their opinions will be unhappy with your choices. Your team must be able to move ahead knowing that most people will come around in the end, but even if they don't, you have designed a safe and efficient documentation system. 5. Expect to make mistakes. Despite your best efforts, even after fighting to something to be a certain way, you will find that some things you have tried will not work as you expected them to. Be willing to admit that this idea or that simply doesn't work, and figure out another way around the problem. 6. Determine a transition strategy. As you move into electronic documentation, you will need to keep some things on paper, or duplicate print some things to help bridge users across to the new system. If you plan for those things, they will have less of a chance of becoming the norm. If you know that for 6 months you will continue to print a replacement for your handwritten vital signs sheet that hangs on the door, but then will move it into the chart for the next 3 months, and then quit printing it all together, you teach doctors and staff with that transition in mind, rather than thinking that how things are on go-live day, is how they will be from then on out! Hope this helps your planning. Daniel Davis, RN -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of MEDITECH-L Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 7:35 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [MEDITECH-L] NUR Documentation implementation plan ---------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------- Subject: RE: [MEDITECH-L] NUR Documentation implementation plan From: "Judy Johnston" Date: Tue, December 19, 2006 3:33 pm To: "MEDITECH-L" -------------------------------------------------------------------------- We just implemented Client Server documentation. We got a nurse from Med-Surg, Mother Baby, and ICUs. Looking back we could have used 2 nurses from each. Also, look at their documentation and see how they document, and can they speak up if needed. We are trying to have our interventions so any unit can document on the basic ones. 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