Laptop Computers Create Real-time’ Documentation
When they implement their new consolidated documentation system, some of the staff at Integris Health-Jim Thorpe Rehabilitation Hospital in Oklahoma City will participate in a pilot project that will allow therapists to do "real-time" documentation at the point of care.The project will involve a variety of radio frequency laptop computers and other communication devices therapists will use in the therapy gymnasium. Radio frequency computers are not connected directly to the hospital computer network with hardware, but they communicate with the network by radio waves.
The laptops will allow the therapists to document care while they are with patients rather than waiting until they go to the therapy offices to use the computers there, says Kent Boevers, clinical systems analyst at Integris Health.
"Without the radio frequency devices, therapists have to make notes on each patient, then enter the information into the computer when they are back in their office. This will make it mobile so they can go from patient to patient and document as they go," says Dorthi Pierce, project manager for Cerner Corp., a health information systems company with headquarters in Kansas City, MO.
Initially, the devices will be used only in the therapy gym. Jim Thorpe therapists will test a variety of laptops and other hand-held data entry devices, Pierce says. Once the radio frequency documentation process has been tested and the kinks worked out, Cerner plans to roll it out into other areas of Integris Health system.
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