National Nurses Week was celebrated this month and it was great to see the support of and celebration of all the great nurses who make a difference for patients and families every day. If you’ve ever been a patient in a medical setting, I’m sure you would agree that nurses truly are the heart and soul of the medical community that keeps everything moving.

One way that I can think of to honor and support our great nurses is to provide ways to make their jobs easier. I have spoken with a lot of clinicians who tell me they wish they could spend more time on the patient care part of their job, and less time on record keeping and the manual entry of data, especially when it comes to medical devices.

It’s been a little while since our last post. Please forgive the lapse — we’ve been busy connecting medical devices to EHRs at many hospitals. And we have another Smart Pump EHR Integration implementation currently scheduled to go live in September.    

Connecting smart pumps to your EHR is a complex project, but well worth it. Doing so improves patient safety, saves your nurses time, and helps increase IV reimbursements. If you’re interested in learning more about Smart Pump EHR Integration, we’re hosting three webinars this summer on the subject, including one where Amy Speanburg, MS, RN, Clinical Informatics Specialist at Saratoga Hospital will join us as our guest speaker.

Scroll down for registration links and a description of each webinar.  

If you’re a clinician, you know that closed loop medication administration can enhance patient safety and improve efficiencies throughout the medication management process — from the time a physician orders a prescription, to the time a nurse administers the medication and documents it in the patient’s eMAR. Maybe you’ve implemented CPOE and bedside medication verification to close the loop on oral medications?

But what about IV meds? Exactly what does closed loop IV medication administration look like?

Earlier this month, the ECRI Institute published its annual Top 10 Health Technology Hazards report. Infusion Errors topped the list this year as hazard #1. Here’s our interpretation…

Earlier this month, TechNation magazine interviewed several industry experts about important qualities to consider when purchasing smart pumps. Prevention of medication errors, wireless connectivity, and ease of use were among the top options listed.  

So far in our Connectivity Series, we’ve shared details about how to integrate GE medical devices, Philips equipment, and Welch Allyn monitors with your EHR. This month, I’ll cover Nihon Kohden. And I’ll also spend some time discussing how important it is to keep flexibility in mind, so you can address a variety of interoperability scenarios.

For the third post in our Connectivity Series, I’d like to share with you some details about integrating Welch Allyn devices with your EHR.

Many of Welch Allyn’s monitors are portable, wireless devices that operate in a low-acuity setting. If you’re a clinician or a biomed expert, you understand exactly what that implies: Portable devices function differently than the stationary, continuous monitors typically found in critical care areas like the ICU. And the workflow associated with portable low-acuity devices can be unique, too.  

As promised, this is my second post in a series that provides details about our Accelero Connect team’s experience integrating specific manufacturers’ medical devices with your EHR. Last time, the focus was GE devices. Today, I’ll focus on Philips equipment.

If you already use Philips, you know there are many details to understand in order to integrate those devices with your EHR. The Philips network can have a variety of equipment in play, and figuring out how best to set up your integration can get confusing. So I’m going to give you some information, some common configurations we’ve seen, and include details about our Philips integration experience along the way.

This post is the first in a series that will provide you with details about integrating specific manufacturers’ medical devices with your EHR:

• GE Healthcare
• Philips
• Nihon Kohden
• Mindray
• Welch Allyn
• And others