5 West Nursing

The ACME Computamer (Now available in stores for only $19.95+tax+s/h)

Originally uploaded by pamin21. (Sometimes, you just feel like a nut!)

What can I say? We survived that one!

What a rough night indeed! Frustrations and emotions ran high and at the end, we just had to take a deep breath and hold! In the meantime, I hope you enjoy bathroom poetry…

OPUS Go Live!
by Little EJ

Twas the night OPUS went live, and all through the house,
Everybody was stirring, all clicking the mouse,
Eyes glued to the screen, with silence so haunting,
With deep concentration, on tasks that’s so daunting.

Assessments done easy, with paper so breezy,
Took much of our time, our breaths all turned wheezy,
The five-minute task on paper, now twenty,
Computers so fast, makes us all work slowly.

Less patients to care for, five patients to one,
You’d think everybody, was just having fun,
The laptops our sixth, sixth patient that is,
Got all our attention, and what did we miss?

The pain pill, the Foley, the patient with chole,
The antibiotic, the narc count, the IV,
All else had to wait, for a minute or two,
Oh boy, it was good that nobody turned blue!

Alas I got done, in forty five minutes,
My charting, assessments and all that went in it,
But I’m not rejoicing just yet all because,
Had four more to go, we all had to pause…

For coffee and tea, too bad no balut!
Our eyes have grown weary, we don’t give a hoot!
All faces with smiles, all turned upside down,
Hold on, there is hope, so don’t you dare frown.

The laughter you hear is all too deceiving,
It’s not out of joy, frustrations are heaving,
Was this just too fast, we’re all ill-prepared,
But all is not lost, some wisdom is shared…

This night was a lesson, on implementation,
You don’t expect things to go in perfection,
But with careful planning and mindful brainstorming,
It would have been better, and pleasantly sailing.

What we could have done, was have a dry run,
RNs, CNAs, Clerks under the sun,
To test out the system for one day or two,
And measure performance, adjustments to do.

Adapting the system should be towards us,
And not us adapting to its whims or fuzz,
The power of software is when it is simple,
All its complications has grown me a pimple!

Consultations done, should be from the floor,
The RNs, CNAs, Wark clerks and what more?
It should have been part of this wonderful planning,
Insights from nurses that do some programming!

As always we’re tough, no matter the weather,
Knowledge is good, experience is better,
And what we have learned from tonight we will take,
Into the future, our jobs are at stake!

More on this blessed event, coming up soon…