Now, just about every nurse in this big old country of ours, has been subjected to the pain and sorrow, of migrating to an Electronic Medical Documentation model or system. Please, don't think of me as some kind of Luddite, a person that abhors change and keeping up with technological change............no, I'm not that. But not one of you who has been encumbered by this digitalized record, can admit completely smooth sailing. After all, in the past our paper charting didn't “crash”; did it?

So when a big hospital system like ours, decides to do some kind of “upgrade”, well then, it involves a colossal hassle for all participants. There is the whole, charting on “down-time” forms, and more. Like how we are supposed to chart on paper when the computer is down, and then transfer all that stuff back to the computer, three hours from now. Come on! Get real! This is where imaginary vital signs find a place to seed and go forth.

Here, at a “we-use-Cerner” hospital, we have identified our “super-duper-users” as Red-Shirts. This group of advisers, releases a “Tips and Tricks” document, to guide us through the horrors of computer-downtime-upgrades. Look, that alone gives me nightmares, and really, which one of us busy-bee workers has time to slog through all that handy, not so-helpful literature, when, if we don't get our butts in gear, we'll be behind for the rest of the day. In my opinion (and I'm full of them), “Tips and Tricks” handouts, are best ingested, out on the veranda during the Siesta (of which, we never have time for).

Downtime

Downtime, is like summertime
Just take it easy,
All the fuss and falderal
Is overdone and cheezy,
Who, really has the time
To read the tips and tricks?
When we're sipping Frappaccino's
Down by Highway Sixty-Six

Fibril_late;
5/3/12

ps:
Thanks to my pals over at MSJMC........your note was very heartwarming.


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Also, more.........


Redundant Reentry

Oh sure, the E.M.R.
Has made work.........a piece of cake,
While paper documentation
Makes us shudder and shake,
But, only because a computer collapse
Forces our data upon paper,
Then later, we must re-chart it all
In this redundant, reentry caper.

Fibril_late;
5/3/12