IT in the ED
I agree with the suggestion that you should work out how many
workstations, printers, scanners, bar code reading stations you need
and then add 50-70%
__Ensure__ the hardware is fast enough - if the computer makes life
harder rather than easier you will find that you can impose as many
'you musts' as you like, folks will not use it properly.
Software. Ideally something open-source and shared - otherwise you
get locked into one company/product and you are stuck for life - and
they tend not to be too responsive once you are 'locked-in'.
Open-source software avoids this of course.
Google what the US have been saying about his - Obama's latest - and
look at Ken Kizer's evidence
http://blogs.computerworld.com/14525/obama_open_source_healthcare
and
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=view&id=4828
You likely won't be offered anything open-source however - but worth
asking and looking. I use an open source electronic medical record in
my office practice in Canada - and its user base is sky rocketing for
the important reasons described in some of the above (and because it
is better than most of the closed-source ('proprietary') offerings.
*On a separate note*
In our Emerg Dept we have triplicate paper forms/notes. The
clerk/nurse has to put a sticker on each copy - apparently because of
the phasing out of dot matrix printers. So......question to the
amassed wise folks - is there any other technology out there that will
allow use of triplicate paper but with printing on all 3 copies?
Thanks for any advice.
Jel Coward
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