Where I work it is a rediculous waste of time to try and decon anything and everything someone touches. The fact of the matter is that most of the germs that one could get from a surface like that are pretty much dead from the light already. Only a few viruses are contracted through the dermal layer, and those are pretty rare. So long as you don't go catheterize yourself, or perform a throat-sweep with your own finger, you're fine. Since doctors and nurses wash their hands after every patient, etc.the dangerous germs are pretty much killed right there anyway. IN addition to that, there really is no difference from and electronic chart and a regular one. We in the ER reuse the same bunch of clipboards upon which all of the patient's paper is clipped.If you were worried about the charts, you'd also have to consider the actual paper, wheelchairs, desks, pens, door handles, syringes (just kidding), all the equipiment like the EKG monitor, the oximeter, etc. People forget that for the most part, the human body does a kick-ass job at protecting itself. I've worked in the ER for a long time, and I've NEVER contracted any type of disease, save for an occasional cold. But I could just as easily catch that at the supermarket!
...but the doctors are stubborn...
on
Digital Doctoring
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· Score: 2
I work in a large hospital, in the ER, and currently we are trying to phase in handheld, and small 'touch-screen' patient-charts, called 'echarts.'The problem lies not in the fact that they're bulky, that they use a pseudo-windows UI, and that they use stubborn LCD displays. It probably has nothing to do with the fact that their login is the last name and the first initial of any employee. Most likely nobody knows that they communicate via RF so that they can connect to the network. I doubt they remember when the backup power generator turned on, and scrambled that RF connection. The REAL reason that nobody wants to use them is because they're different,bulky,and difficult if not downright impossible to navigate. At least the paper forms are color-coded, and all look pretty, with the cute nurses' curly little handwriting. These chunky boxes look cinder-blocks wrapped in rubbery plastic. I'd bet that when someone comes up with a more ergonomic, eye-pleasing design, the doctors, nurses, and techs will be more willing to convert to the Paperless Way. But for now, the things sit in the corner, collecting dust along with the dot-matrix printers, almost totally unused. Not until these devices are used from the beginning, i.e. in the nursing and medical schools, will doctors et al be willing to trust life-or-death info to them!
Slashdot Mirror
Where I work it is a rediculous waste of time to try and decon anything and everything someone touches. The fact of the matter is that most of the germs that one could get from a surface like that are pretty much dead from the light already. Only a few viruses are contracted through the dermal layer, and those are pretty rare. So long as you don't go catheterize yourself, or perform a throat-sweep with your own finger, you're fine. Since doctors and nurses wash their hands after every patient, etc.the dangerous germs are pretty much killed right there anyway. IN addition to that, there really is no difference from and electronic chart and a regular one. We in the ER reuse the same bunch of clipboards upon which all of the patient's paper is clipped.If you were worried about the charts, you'd also have to consider the actual paper, wheelchairs, desks, pens, door handles, syringes (just kidding), all the equipiment like the EKG monitor, the oximeter, etc. People forget that for the most part, the human body does a kick-ass job at protecting itself. I've worked in the ER for a long time, and I've NEVER contracted any type of disease, save for an occasional cold. But I could just as easily catch that at the supermarket!
I work in a large hospital, in the ER, and currently we are trying to phase in handheld, and small 'touch-screen' patient-charts, called 'echarts.'The problem lies not in the fact that they're bulky, that they use a pseudo-windows UI, and that they use stubborn LCD displays. It probably has nothing to do with the fact that their login is the last name and the first initial of any employee. Most likely nobody knows that they communicate via RF so that they can connect to the network. I doubt they remember when the backup power generator turned on, and scrambled that RF connection. The REAL reason that nobody wants to use them is because they're different,bulky,and difficult if not downright impossible to navigate. At least the paper forms are color-coded, and all look pretty, with the cute nurses' curly little handwriting. These chunky boxes look cinder-blocks wrapped in rubbery plastic. I'd bet that when someone comes up with a more ergonomic, eye-pleasing design, the doctors, nurses, and techs will be more willing to convert to the Paperless Way. But for now, the things sit in the corner, collecting dust along with the dot-matrix printers, almost totally unused. Not until these devices are used from the beginning, i.e. in the nursing and medical schools, will doctors et al be willing to trust life-or-death info to them!