Interesting article on the use of mobile devices for infection control:

http://www.hhnmostwired.com/hhnmostwired_app/jsp/articledisplay.jsp?dcrpath=HHNMOSTWIRED/Article/data/Fall2007/080109MW_Online_Davidson&domain=HHNMOSTWIRED

Yes folks it is that time of the year again. Mr. HIStalk – HISsies nomination for 2008: your nominations for “The Brutally Honest Healthcare Information Systems Awards” in 18 categories are now welcome. Among them: who’s the worst vendor, what’s the biggest HIT news story of the year, who is the HIS industry figure in whose face you’d most like to throw a pie, and who gets the biggest award: the “HIStalk HIT Industry Figure of the Year.” Nominations will run until the end of next week, then voting begins. Don’t discount the importance of voting now: only the top handful of nomination vote-getters appear on the final ballot. If you’re new, don’t think this is a joke just because the categories are cheeky: it draws 1,000 or more voters each time, some vendor always tries to rig the voting by urging employees to vote for them as Best Vendor, and the number of people who read the results announcement is off the scale.

According to a study released by Spyglass Consulting Group, the results of a comprehensive end-user market study focused on the current state of computing adoption by nurses across the United States. Spyglass conducted more than 100 in-depth telephone interviews with nurses working in acute care and ambulatory environments nationwide to better understand how point of care computing can be used to enhance patient safety, reduce the risk of medical errors and streamline nursing productivity.

The complete market study “Healthcare Without Bounds: Point of Care Computing for Nursing” is available from Spyglass Consulting Group at http://www.spyglass-consulting.com or for further information please contact Gregg Malkary at gmalkary@spyglass-consulting.com

A GPs’ surgery in mid Wales has launched a series of health education films on YouTube, better known as a website featuring home videos. Advice about flu vaccination and cervical screening are two of the topics covered by Builth and Llanwrtyd Medical Practice in Powys.

Doctors said they wanted to help educate their 7,700 patients and a wider global audience.

Last year, the surgery launched a series of podcasts to advise patients.

HISTALK, one of may favorite site to get up to date HIT news, updates, and opinions, came out with his “Universal Rules for Big EMR Rollouts.” Just recently going through a GO-LIVE, I can very much relate to his talking points.

——————————-

1. Your hospital will pledge to make major processes changes, vowing
to “do it right” unlike all those rube hospitals that preceded you, but
the executive-driven urgency to recoup the massive costs means the
noble goals will change to just bringing the damn thing up fast,
hopefully without killing patients in the process.

2. The project and/or system must be anointed with an incredibly
dopey and user-embarrassing name, preferably chosen from user
submissions and with the offer of crappy vendor paraphernalia or lame
IT junk as a prize, and also preferably made up of a far-fetched phrase
whose contrived acronym spells out a medically related word or female
name. Instead of inspiring the expected collegial chumminess among
users, it will serve as a bitter reminder of the innocent, naive days
between RFP and go-live before it got ugly.

3. Doctors won’t use it like you think, if at all, because hospitals
are one of few organizations left that doctors can say ‘no’ to.

4. You’ll spend a fortune on mobile devices and carts that will sit
parked in a corral due to the short life of their $100 battery and a
dysfunctional but not yet fully depreciated wireless network, the
keystone arches to the entire project.

5. All the executives who promised undying support to firmly hold
the tiller through the inevitable choppy waters and who overrode all
the clinician preferences in a frenzy of inflated self esteem will
vanish without a trace at the first sign of trouble, like when scarce
nurses or pharmacists threaten to leave or when the extent of the
vendor’s exaggeration first sees the harsh light of day in some
analyst’s cubicle.

6. It will take three times as long and twice the cost of your worst-case estimate.

7. You’ll pay a vendor millions for a software package consisting of
standardized business rules, then argue bitterly that all of them need
to be rewritten because your hospital is extra-special and has figured
out the secrets that have eluded the vendor’s 100 similar customers.
The end result, if the vendor capitulates, will be a system that looks
exactly like the one you kicked out to buy theirs.

8. You’ll loudly demand that the vendor ship regular software
upgrades to fix all the bug issues you submit, but then you’ll refused
to apply them because you’re scared of screwing something up with the
skeleton maintenance staff you can afford, given that millions were
spent on systems with nothing left for additional IT support staff or
training.

9. All those metrics you planned to collect to show how quickly the
EMR would pay for itself instead show the situation unchanged or
getting worse, so factors beyond your control will be blamed (like a
ridiculously long implementation time that changed all the assumptions
and external conditions) and ROI will not be brought up again in polite
company.

10. No matter how unimpressive the final result toward patient care
or cost, the EMR will be lauded far and wide as wonderful since the
vitality of the HIT industry (vendors, CIOs, consultants, magazines,
HIMSS, bloggers) requires an unwavering belief that IT spending alone
will directly influence quality, even when nothing else changes.

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Comment posted by Katiebell
at 1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM

LOL….having Gone live now about 3 times in the past 3 months with a variety of different EMR’s and order entry systems, I tend to somewhat agree, but to be quite honest so far they have all been pretty smooth. All except for those rolling carts and batteries. We don’t want to chart in the patient’s room!!!! For The love of God and all that is good, some things go into charts that patients need not be privy too!!!!

Oh yes, definitely me writing what I did electronically really doesn’t affect the quality of care. but I will say as far as one system, the electronic T system, it creates a nursing note that is somewhat coherent, which the paper nursing T does not, so legally it covers my behind more….

Stop amendment threatening Title VIII funding. Call your Senators TODAY,
tell them to Vote NO on the Allard Amendment

The Senate is scheduled to vote at 5:30 this evening (10/22) on an amendment
that would diminish funding for nursing workforce development programs by
10%. Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO) is sponsoring the amendment, which would
impact all Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development programs except the
Nurse Education Loan Repayment Programs.

* Title VII Programs –currently funded at $150 Million –are the
only federal programs designed to address the nursing shortage. These
programs are vital to support nursing students; invest in nursing faculty
and education capacity; maintain advanced education programs; and direct
nurses to critical shortage areas. (Get more info on Title VIII online here:

http://nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAPoliticalPower/Federal/LEGIS/T
itleVIII.aspx)

* Now is time to increase, not cut funding for these vital programs
that address the nursing shortage.

* The majority of the Senate agrees. In April, 51 Senators signed a
letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee supporting a $50 million
increase in funding for nursing workforce development programs (see the
list of signers here:

http://rnaction.org/politicalpower/senate_dearcolleague)

WHAT YOU CAN DO

We need your help today to stop this dangerous amendment.

Call your Senators through the Senate Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Urge
them to protect nursing workforce development funding-tell them to vote NO
on the Allard Amendment.

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Violations at University of Iowa hospitals

Iowa state inspectors found 41 health and safety violations at University of
Iowa Hospitals. The hospital is accused of failing to report the deaths of
nine patients who were allegedly restrained at the time of their death.
Inspectors also cited the hospital for issues pertaining to patients who
were receiving dialysis treatments according to the Des Moines Register.

Other alleged problems cited in the inspector’s report include:

* The hospital did not maintain correct infection-control procedures.
* The hospital failed to have a system to keep up with patients’
diets, making sure that each patient had food to meet his or her physicians’
orders and nutritional needs.
* The hospital had outdated medications, medical supplies, and
sutures. The items had expired as recently as 2005 and as far back as 2001.

“We took corrective action to address those concerns while the (inspectors)
were still on site, and we successfully resolved their concerns,” said
hospital spokesperson Tom Moore in the Des Moines Register.

To read more click here

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