[MEDITECH-L] e-MAR, BMV, and wireless

[Charlie Downs]

Our hospital has made the commitment to going wireless. I have been given the task of identifying any special needs related to the e-MAR and BMV. From what I understand, Meditech does not currently have a wireless BMV; I’ve heard the first of the year, but does anyone know for sure? Also, I thought that wireless hospitals were using the e-MAR and BMV. If BMV is not wireless, how are the wireless hospitals out there doing BMV? My guess is that the PC is wireless but the scanner is tethered to the wireless PC? I don’t know a whole lot about wireless, so any specifics that I could take back to the committee would be helpful.

Thanks,

Charlie

 

Charles Downs PharmD

Washington County Hospital

251 E. Antietam Street

Hagerstown, MD, 21740

301-790-8904

 

 

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[Cindy Snyder]

Hello Charlie:

 

There are hospitals that use wireless carts with BMV. However, there is not the technology to use a hand-held such as a PDA with a scanner. Is that what you are thinking of? Or, yes, you may be correct, that the cart is wireless but the scanner is tethered. One word of caution regarding the use of wireless bar code scanners. The nurses (of course not technical) may try to use one scanner with several PC's, which will not work.

 

I hope this information is helpful.

 

Have a great day.

 

Cindy

 

 

Cindy Snyder RN
Clinical Systems Analyst
Howard Regional Health System
Kokomo, IN 46901
(765) 453-8321

The opinions expressed in this e-mail message are those of the author and may not be representative of Howard Regional Health System or affiliates.  This e-mail message and attachments, if any, may contain confidential or privileged information.  If you are not the addressee or authorized to receive this message for the addressee, you must not use, copy, disclose, or take any action based on this message, any attachments to this message, or any information herein.  If you have received this message in error, please advise the sender immediately by reply e-mail and delete this message in its entirety.

>>> "Charlie Downs" <dow...@wchsys.org> 6/27/2007 8:18 AM >>>

[Susan Willard]

We use wireless carts and have the tethered scanners. Meditech is very much aware of the desire to one day support handhelds for BMV and I understand their development team is working towards that goal so maybe one day!!!!

 

Thanks, Susan J

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From: meditech-...@mtusers.com [mailto:meditech-...@mtusers.com] On Behalf Of Cindy Snyder
Sent: Friday, June 29, 2007 8:42 AM
To: MEDIT...@MTUSERS.COM; Charlie Downs
Subject: Re: [MEDITECH-L] e-MAR, BMV, and wireless

[Gauntt, Brandon K.]

We also have Stinger Medical wireless carts and have purchased tethered scanners.  We go live with BMV in August.

 

Brandon Gauntt

Director - Information Services

Hopkins County Memorial Hospital

903-439-4054 Office

903-348-2112 Cell

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[David S. Dickason]

I don’t want to seem impertinent, but be careful with terminology.  It is MEDITECH that is not up to the technology, not the other way around.  How many times have you seen wireless handheld scanners in stores, used for stocking and inventory, or even at the registers?  There are blue tooth barcode readers that will talk directly to your wireless laptop or PC for BMV, eliminating the tether.  There are secure digital (SD) cards that you can put into a handheld device (Axiom, iPaq, etc) that have barcode readers on them, turning your basic handheld into a scanner.  Meditech just has not accommodated this technology yet.  Then again, their user interface is only 30 years behind.

My 2 cents,

 

 

 

Dave Dickason

Informatics Nurse

Thompson Health

Canandaigua, NY

 

 

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From: meditech-...@mtusers.com [mailto:meditech-...@mtusers.com] On Behalf Of Cindy Snyder
Sent: Friday, June 29, 2007 9:42 AM
To: MEDIT...@MTUSERS.COM; Charlie Downs
Subject: Re: [MEDITECH-L] e-MAR, BMV, and wireless

 

Hello Charlie:

[Bill Mullins]

I always wondered why Fed Ex and UPS had a small handheld scanner and computer that worked and hospitals still cannot achieve that goal?

 

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[McBride, Dan]

Some hospitals have achieved that goal. We are in the process of implementing Cardinal Health CareFusion and it does use a wireless handheld device. CareFusion provides the interface to MEDITECH. You want to make sure your wireless network is tested with the device you choose to use. Care Fusion currently supports 2 different devices. We are using the Symbol MC70 which has a QWERTY keyboard and a 2D barcode scanner. The other device is the Symbol PPT 8846. We are using it for phlebotomy specimen collection and blood transfusion verification. We also plan to use it to document vital signs and medication administration.

 

                                                       

 

Dan McBride

Newman Regional Health

Emporia, KS

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[David S. Dickason]

We have the Symbol (Motorola) MC50 (wifi) as our replacement for the DG handhelds, but are not up on BMV.  I’m not happy with the MTBFs (Mean time between failure) on these units.  I’m really worried about what happens at the end of our 3 yr warranty.   We have a CareFusion demo next week.

 

Dave Dickason

Informatics Nurse

Thompson Health

Canandaigua, NY

 

 

[O'Briant, Deborah L]

What do the nurses think of trying to see all of the pertinent data necessary on that little screen? The smaller the screen, the more you have to scroll up/down/side to side. This becomes an even bigger issue in critical care units, where there is more data to assess before deciding if it is appropriate to administer a med given the health status of the patient. It may also be an issue for seasoned nurses whose eyesight isn't as good as when they first started in the nursing profession. So, there are +/- for both the desktop and handheld devices.

 

UPS, FEDEX and Walmart are tracking inventory (whether it is being shipped or on shelves). They are not having to make critical thinking judgments based on the information displayed on their little screen.

 

I REALLY like the Cardinal Health Solution, btw. I just keep hearing the screen size issue by nurses who have used the handhelds in ICUs at other hospitals.

---

From: Duckworth, Russell D
Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 4:03 PM
To: O'Briant, Deborah L
Subject: FW: [MEDITECH-L] e-MAR, BMV, and wireless

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From: meditech-...@mtusers.com on behalf of McBride, Dan[SMTP:DMCB...@NEWMANRH.ORG]
Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 3:53:37 PM

To: Bill Mullins; David S. Dickason; MEDIT...@MTUSERS.COM; Charlie Downs

Subject: Re: [MEDITECH-L] e-MAR, BMV, and wireless

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[McBride, Dan]

CareFusion does have a way to increase the font size for those of us who need the larger type. It was the nurses who selected the handheld over using a mobile cart with a bar code scanner. We had planned on implementing BMV. We had vendors loan us lots of different carts for them to try, but when they saw the Symbol handheld, it won out.

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[Kimberly Frick]

With our previous bar-coded medication administration system, we used a handheld device exclusively for documentation. The screen size was an issue for the nurses. They had to use their stylus, or heaven forbid, their pen to scroll down and over to see all of the information, especially when acknowledging a med. Another issue with the handhelds was the many trips back and forth to the med room to retrieve meds. With the med COW's that we currently use, they have a place to securely store their meds during a med pass, eliminating frequent trips to the med room. But there were advantages to the handhelds. We could place a plastic bag over them when in an isolation room and not worry about contaminating the keyboard. They were also very convenient for documenting a prn. Now that we have switched to BMV, I'd like to have a few handheld devices for these purposes, but continue to use COW's for general med passes and acknowledging meds.

 

Kim Frick, RN
Project Coordinator
Licking Memorial Health Systems
Phone: 740-348-4114
Fax: 740-348-4769
kfr...@lmhealth.org
www.LMHealth.org
 

-----Original Message-----
From: meditech-...@mtusers.com [mailto:meditech-...@mtusers.com]On Behalf Of O'Briant, Deborah L
Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 4:20 PM
To: medit...@MTUsers.com

[Bill Mullins]

These small handheld devices are not intended to be the documentation tool/device for all caregivers.

 

They have their purpose, just like the old DG HH devices.

 

I think these small devices would be useful for administering meds if it included a scanner (like the UPS and FED EX hh devices do). Also for vitals, I&O’s rounds, review of critical labs, etc…

 

Each facility has to decide what works best for them and it may be different devices for different users/areas (RT might like this smaller devices to record treatments and meds).

 

By no means am I saying you would want to use this small device for all your documentation and or reviewing patient data.

 

There is no device that works in all clinical areas that will satisfy all users! You will need a mixture of hardware to meet the needs of your facility and users.

 

I have worked in facilities with computers in every ICU/CCU room and those nurses who need to use “Critical judgment” do not use the device in the room, they would prefer to rely on memory or write on their hand or on a scratch pad this important patient information that so many people rely on. So much for progress.

 

What I have heard is that staff want a wireless device with a full size keyboard, a 17 in monitor with scanner that weighs 2lbs (ha ha…). “Well that is what they want”.

 

This cannot be done.

 

Like you said there are benefits to small devices and full size devices, there are trade offs.

 

Good Luck,

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