Our facility only has the wireless COWs from Stinger Medical. I can say
that over the course of two years using the carts we have not had any
injuries from staff related to the carts. Stinger did make a
lightweight and small footprint cart that is easy to push/pull.
We do not have a high rate of problems with laptops since the COW is an
All in One device instead of a laptop. Out of the 18 carts we have,
only two have had to be sent in for repairs over two years. We have
also had to replace three power supplies, two of which were still under
warranty, and we haven't had any issue with our cables. If you do
purchase COWs you would really benefit from the AIO system with the
power supply unit instead of a laptop with a battery and charger.
The one problem that we do face is making sure that they are plugged in
properly and long enough to keep a charge. That is just an education
issue that we are working out with the staff now.
Brandon Gauntt
Director - Information Services
Hopkins County Memorial Hospital
903-439-4054 Office
903-348-2112 Cell
________________________________
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Davis Daniel -
Southern Hills
Sent: Monday, July 30, 2007 9:48 AM
To: Cheryl Drexler; [email protected]
Subject: Re: [MEDITECH-L] Bedside computer versus COWS
Our facility was "hardwired" with dumb terminals in every room. Then
with the advent of eMAR and BMV (should be one product as far as I am
concerned) we moved to wireless COWs. Now we are in the process of
moving back to a wired computer in every room. Here is a list of issues
we found with each device:
Wired in the Room
1) Staff don't really like staying in the room to document unless
they are in the process of giving meds. Patients and family ask
questions, or if you are catching up other documentation begin to wonder
why you are taking so long.
2) Staff must log in and log out each time they go in a room to
document, can result in tighter times before the system logs you out to
keep HIPPA information safe, requires some kind of proximity system to
make it efficient.
3) Loose the ability of having "extra" room on a cart to help carry
some stuff with you.
4) If one computer is "down" you don't have the extra wireless cart
to pull into that room to give meds.
COWs
1) Higher rate of staff injury due to push/pull of the cart,
especially across thresholds.
2) Higher rate of maintenance as laptops were not really designed to
work well 24/7 in an enclosed space.
3) Higher rate of maintenance as chargers, batteries, cords, etc go
bad.
4) It can also be difficult to distinguish if staff are plugging the
carts in appropriately to get the batteries charged.
5) Allow staff to remain logged in from room to room, but can
created HIPPA/JCAHO, etc violations as staff get used to remaining
logged in and auto logout times get relaxed to accommodate user practice
of staying logged in.
I believe it has been a mistake to attempt to combine the COW and Med
Cart ideas. The COW was designed to be a light, small foot print device
that can reasonably easily navigate a crowded patient room. The Med
Cart was designed to remain in the hall and be pushed only a few feet in
a straight line at a time.
As you can see from my list, each path has its own set of problems.
Just depends on which set your facility is willing to deal with as staff
start to complain!
Daniel Davis
________________________________
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Cheryl Drexler
Sent: Monday, July 30, 2007 7:57 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [MEDITECH-L] Bedside computer versus COWS
Anyone working with Nursing and Nursing workflow,
I'm new to this position and my first task is to look at devices to help
the nursing staff.
We are in the process of going back on-line documentation with Nursing
and are going to begin with BMV. My question is what is the better way
to go, using a hard wired in patient room computer or a COW. I'm
concerned about using the COW with multiple med drawers due to size and
weight and the fact that I know of some facilities that purchased COWs
and now they are pushed into corners not being used. From your
experience, what would you use if you looked at workflow and not the
financial side.
If you are hardwired, are the nurses using the device in the room or are
they going outside the room to do the documentation? If you are using
COWs, are they being used and what type of cart are you using, one with
multiple drawers or one with maybe one or two drawers.
The last of my questions is; what type of scanner/imager are you using?
Are you using Meditech's recommended version that has to be hard wired
or are you using a wireless system that then has be to be interfaced
into Meditech? Is anyone using the Motion C5 that was recommended in
another listing?
Thank you very much for your input.
Cheryl Drexler RN
Application Specialist
Lima Memorial Health System
Lima, OH
419-226-5197 ext 2901
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