POE improvements continue

Recent and Upcoming POE Improvements

Remote access to clinical applications being tested in pilot project

First phase of process redesign is over; changes now being implemented

Process Redesign Changes

Internet policy established to safeguard computer performance

Stanford, Packard hospital announce new chief information officer

News office changes name

New editor named for Medical Staff Update

Kenneth Melmon dies at age 67

Community Day

Improvements recently made:

• Orders can be modified rather than having to delete the existing order and create a new one. This change took effect with the upgraded version, 4.1.9, which was installed in late February.
  
  
• Improved search functionality (also implemented with version 4.1.9) allows doctors to locate specific non-medication orders more quickly and easily.
  
  
• Erroneously attributed verbal orders can now be moved out of a physician's signing queue while the correct ordering physician is being determined.
  
  
• The admitting department has established turnaround standards for patient registration and new-account generation, specifying that patients will be registered and new accounts generated within 15 minutes of notification. Improvements coming up:
  
  
• An order review screen is being developed that will present all the orders made during a session, so the physician can easily see and review them. IDX has decided to incorporate this feature into the standard version of LastWord.
  
  
• Efforts are under way to simplify medication ordering, so that medications are listed by name rather than by packaging. In many cases, this will reduce the number of menu options that appear when physicians input medication orders.
  
  
• Revisions are being made to clarify and ensure the accuracy of daily scheduled orders. For example, if a doctor inputs an order at 11 a.m. on a Wednesday indicating that the patient should get a chest X-ray each morning, the physician will be asked to clarify whether the first X-ray should be on Wednesday or on Thursday.
  
  
• POE training for new residents is being revised to be more service-specific and to ensure that all residents receive adequate training on the system before they begin caring for patients on the floors. During the new residents' first few weeks at the hospital, in June and July, the IT department will provide extra support to answer questions and resolve problems.
  
  
• The nurse documentation module of LastWord is being presented to the capital budget committee for approval, and plans for a pilot project of this component are under way. The module will allow nurses to document medication charting, vital signs and input and output, among other items, and will allow nurses to indicate when they have completed physicians' orders.