Bad and Good Charting Software for Visiting Nurses

Posts: 2 · Joined: 22 Jul 2006 Posts: 2 Location: Hoffman Estates

Do the computers you use to chart visits help you or slow you down? Have you used a charting program that was better or worse than others programs?
I work in IT for an organization that has nurses visit patients, and there are problems with our charting software. The nurses tell me that they visit patients during the day and then spend hours charting on their laptops at home on their own time. Has anyone used good software for this kind of thing? At some point we might get a different system, but I'm not sure how we can tell which one to get without finding out if it's good or not from nurses who have used the software.
Any observations about computers or software for nurses in general?

Posts: 111 · Joined: 01 Jan 2006 Posts: 111 Location: Coastal Georgia

We use Meditech at the hospital. I wonder if this type of system can help you in the home care environment. We also use a program called Krames to print out leaflets for patient teaching ranging from health disorders, how to use crutches, post-operative instructions, and medications.

http://www.meditech.com/

http://www.krames.com/

http://www.visionarymed.com/?vid=6009

http://www.hsmn.com/index.html

Posts: 2 · Joined: 22 Jul 2006 Posts: 2 Location: Hoffman Estates

Thank you. Right on Meditech's web site they say that they have software for home health care. And it sounds like the consulting group does IT health consulting, too. I hate to think of our nurses using our current software, which takes up hours of their time each day and doesn't fit their needs. When I talk to them about the program, they tell me they hate it. Now I can start suggesting alternatives. I'm a temporary IT intern there, but I'd like to try to start the ball rolling to change the way we're doing things.