the OR without a
signed patient
consent.
Yes, there
will be
glitches.
We call
them "issues."
And there'll be
lots of them:
issues with speed,
upgrades, frozen
applications and
charting that
doesn't save. We
audit our EMR
charts weekly,
looking for glitches. Did the EMR save the patient consent signature?
Are the medications properly programmed as mg instead of cc? Here's
a good tip: Print out several packets of blank EMR charts so you can
seamlessly transition in case your EMR goes down.
Your EMR can't outrun fast cases. For some pain injection
cases, our nurses are still charting after the patient has left the
building. By the time they power up the computer and move through
the screens, the case is over. Some of our nurses prefer to chart these
quick cases on paper and then input the data afterward in the EMR.
Surgeon compliance? Some surgeons, bless their hearts, will
chart on-site. Others will want to access the EMR remotely to
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7
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J a n u a r y 2 0 1 7 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 8 7
• FACE TIME Your nurses will spend more time looking at a computer screen than they will the patient.
