What is happening with IT in my clinical setting:

The birth center I work in uses multiple computer programs to do different things. In L&D and postpartum we use QS to record the contraction 'strips' so we can view them from any desk. We document mostly by clicking options with a mouse, but there are different entry types: numeric (vital signs), narrative (free text), analog (fetal monitoring strips), and images (ultrasounds). It creates graphs of certain information like vitals, I&O's, and glucose monitoring. There are different places for documenting shift assessments, careplans, teaching, IV's, magnesium administration, admission, and delivery information. There are also 'screening tools' that you simply click on things and it generates a risk score. Examples of these are APGAR scores, latch scores, Bishop scores, fall risk, mental health, and domestic violence risk.
We use the Omnicell to pull out our medications; the rest of the hospital uses handheld scanners but we don't have them yet. Ceridian is used to input our schedule preferences. Logicare generates discharge paperwork for the parents with postpartum and newborn care along with appointments. Meditech is used for entering orders and looking up labs. We also have a prompt in our QS that reminds us to make sure that PKU's or birth certificates (for example) are completed before discharge.
Unfortunately, although these programs are meant to make our jobs easier, we all have problems with this technology. We each have to remember 17 different passwords or codes. And forget about paperless charting! We have more paperwork than ever now! In many ways technology does help, but it can also be a hindrance.

Feed me!

Please don't forget to click on my fishpond! It 'feeds' the fish! :)

Why do I, as a graduate level nurse, need to know about information management?

I guess, to put it simply, computers are everywhere. By the time I am a nurse practitioner, it is likely that I will be using computer charting to document my office visits.

When I go to my doctor's office, they use computers for insurance and billing purposes, scheduling appointments and procedures, and dictating patient information. My doctor also has a PDA that he uses to choose a medication to prescribe and puts in my med list and allergies to make sure they are compatible and safe for me. When I have needed medication in the hospital, they use a scanner to verify they are giving the correct medication to the right patient at the right time in the right dose.
My own doctor looks up my labs and tests on a computer, and then emails my prescriptions directly to my pharmacy. I don't even have a written prescription anymore!

Things were definitely not this way when I was a kid, which is pretty amazing because when I tell my kids how it used to be their eyes glaze over because they just don't understand!

Laura Hatfield, BSN, RN-C

Hello! I live in Gilbert, AZ, a wonderful small (but growing) town in the southeast valley of Phoenix with my husband and my beautiful daughters who are 10 and 17. We have 2 polydactyl cats, several scorpions, and just recently adopted a retired racing greyhound.

We are from Colorado, where I graduated from CSU in 1999. I spent several years in telemetry, a year in home health, and the past eight in L&D, nursery, and postpartum.
I am in the psych/mental health nurse practitioner distance program at U of Utah and plan to graduate in 2012. My career goal is to work in women's behavioral health and I am very excited to 'mesh' these two areas together!

I have minimal computer experience, so I am pretty intimidated by this class...but excited to learn as much as possible! I didn't grow up around computers and technology like my children, who take to it quite easily. They actually taught me Powerpoint last year so I could make class presentations, and without them I probably would have dropped out the first month of school!

I look forward to meeting everyone in my class!