Entertaining Reviews & Information

Physician CPOE adoption is being discussed in IT strategy sessions across the US. But before one needs to get it adopted, one has to get it implemented. Truthfully, there are a lot of horror stories out there. One of the main critical success factors for a computerized practitioner order entry (CPOE) implementation is for the order entry team to truly understand the nuances of the electronic ordering process compared with the current paper process.

Here are six steps, you and your project team can take to assure they have got this one in the righteously done category

• Gain an understanding of what went wrong in the horror stories! - Those horror stories have good insights in what not to do, or what to mitigate early. Check out the literature, and if there are similarities, identify a risk
• Have a couple analysts go through the day in the life of the practitioners - Commonly IT departments will hire a nurse or three to help relay this process, however having those individuals accountable for designing and configuring the screen flow. Having them understand how extra clicks actually matter becomes crystal clear in following a nurse or a physician around. There is also no better way to instantly imbed a sense of purpose in IT staff. Using the management chain of command, get the request to the CNO or CMO
• Gain an understanding of what went right! - There are a couple of tales of success stories out there. Check them out and try to see if similar techniques will work for your organization
• Create a strong partnership between the informatics department and IT - Having these two departments become a performing team is the goal of the project manager. Set an environment up for teaming, a common location, team building activities, small wins for the team, and facilitate team development. These two departments are each a leg of the implementation and need to walk in a powerful stride.
• Rather than invent the wheel, use a consultant who has been through it - Having a talented consultant who has traveled this road before is worth their weight in gold. Utilize this skill set in order to help identify understanding gaps.
• Reuse the successful techniques from the documentation coordinators - As AP-DRG’s rolled out, efforts were taken to improve physician documentation so that coders could accurate ascertain SOI and ROM. The techniques to improve the physicians documentation will be similar to their adoption of the CPOE. Additionally this will provide insights into the daily life on the floors
  • Using Rules to support clinical decision support
  • Discovering the organization’s perception of an EHR
  • Getting your physician leadership engaged
  • The 5 levels of healthcare IT Credibility
  • Collaborating with Clinicians

All are open to share their suggestions!

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The other day, my mom and I were talking about Somewhere in Time, our favorite of Christopher Reeve’s movies.  When I looked it up online, I realized that the 5-year anniversary of Christopher Reeve’s death was earlier this month, on October 10th.

Christopher Reeve was paralyzed in a horseback riding accident in 1995.  Despite how much he hated being compared to his role as Superman, he showed what an inner reserve of strength he had when his accident didn’t ruin his life — only motivated him to become involved in promoting neurological research in order to try to find a cure for those paralyzed by spinal cord injuries.

At the time of Reeve’s accident, I didn’t ride, so I never made any connection between his injury and what could happen to me.  Now, however, I have a horse I ride regularly, and I’ve even had a few (relatively harmless) falls.  When I think of how an accident could change my life and distort all my hopes and dreams, paralysis  is the second scariest for me, right after blindness.  (I love to read and I’m a writer by profession, so blindness would be the absolute scariest for me.)  I don’t even know how we could operate a wheelchair lift in our parking area, or install stair lifts on our basement and porch stairs.

Would I be able to face such a life-changing injury with as much grace and inner strength as Christopher Reeve?  I don’t know, but I sure hope I would!

Technorati Tags: Christopher Reeve, horseback riding, show jumping, Somewhere in Time, stair lifts, wheelchair lift

One of my biggest disappointments last year with the scouting group in our area was the lack of organization.  It seemed like the leader just decided what they were going to do minutes before the meeting and the kids didn’t seem to have a good time.  Since last year was his last, I decided to step up and become a scout leader so that my son could have a good experience.

In order to make the experience a good one I knew that I had to make some changes.  The biggest change was going to be more structure to the meetings.  The other leaders and I discussed ways that we could do that and we decided that we were going to try out some scouting software.

Even though I had never used the software before, it was very similar to the team management software that I had used during the summer when I was coaching the ladies softball team.  It was going to allow us to have a bird’s eye view of the whole year, the badges we were going to work on, and all of the activities that we have planned.

I just hope that the parents like the new format as well: I think that we will ask their feedback later on this year to see if they think that we have a more effective scouting organization and what we can do to make it better.

Technorati Tags: scouting software, team management software

Many of our parents retire to Florida. They are usually able to make the move on their own. However, there are some things that we can help them to do to ease the move for them. Those things include:

• Transfer of health insurance. We can help our parents research affordable health insurance in Florida such as Florida Medicare and Florida Medigap.
• Setting up housing and utilities. Your parents can find their new home on their own but ask if they want any help. At the very least, you might be able to set up utilities and cable for them.
• Help with planning. A move is a big process. You can help create a plan to make the move go smoothly. This will also help you to figure out what other things need to be done for the move that you can help with.
• Assist with the moving process. Finally, we can get our hands dirty and actually assist with the process of moving. We can help pack and transport Mom’s belongings to her new Florida home.
• Visit. Even if you don’t do anything else, you should visit after your parents are settled.

It’s important that we support our parents in moves like these. We can do that best simply by being helpful.

Technorati Tags: affordable health insurance Florida, Florida Medigap

After three and a half years of driving halfway across town to see a movie, a nice new state-of-the-art movie theater has finally been built near our house.  Can we say, “FINALLY??!!!!”

It always interests me to see how new establishments deal with the handicapped accessibility requirements.  As usual, this theater has the required handicapped parking at the front of the lot, so that a handicapped vehicle has room to operate a wheelchair lift.  Also, there are those nifty handicapped buttons on the doors, and the handicapped seating is right in the front where it’s easy for someone to wheel over to — no stair lifts needed.

Other aspects of the theater are quite nice, too.  The seating is quite comfortable, and everything looks and smells brand new.  The screens are big, the sound is awesome, and the lobby and everything else is clean and attractive.

And of course, the biggest advantage is that it is CLOSE.  How we ended up in such a black  hole, where there were no theaters, I don’t know — but thankfully those days are over!  We went to the new theater for the first time this weekend and saw District 9, and I have to say I’m very, very happy with the theater and the location!

Technorati Tags: accessibility, movie theater, stair lifts, wheelchair lift