At Miami Children's Hospital we embrace technology and employ it throughout the Nursing Department to improve patient safety as well as make our operational processes more efficient.
Professor MCHex
Professor MCHex is a learning center available to all MCH employees on the hospital's portal as well as the internet. Professor MCHex is a web-based service focused on serving the educational needs of pediatric hospitals. As an employee of the hospital you are given full access to MCHex courses free of charge. Courses offered include: MCH mandatory requirements, clinical development, organizational performance and management and leadership skills.
Bar Coding with Medpoint
In 2004 we celebrated the one-year anniversary of the successful house-wide implementation of MedPoint, our medication bar coding system. This system is utilized in all inpatient units. Our staff's dedication to ensuring medication safety has prevented many medication errors. We continue our quest to provide medication safety for all of our patients by updating MedPoint with the latest safety enhancement and have added a dose checking system based on age and weight.
Computerized Documentation
In June 1997, we began using a computerized documentation system in a couple of areas of the hospital. Since 2001, we are using the computerized system to document the care provided by the healthcare staff in all our inpatient areas. The system contains the patient history, flowsheets and progress notes for all disciplines to document their assessments, observations, education and interventions. The computerized system is located at the nursing stations and on mobile workstations that can be taken to the patient's bedside. Throughout the campus, the system is available to other healthcare providers (that have access) to view patient information.
Web Based Scheduling
In 2004 we began a process to implement a new web-based scheduling system for the Nursing Department. A search for the best system for MCH was conducted by a team which included nursing representatives in management and staff positions. The team made several site visits nationally to evaluate the systems being used by various hospitals. The team chose Nightingale as the scheduling software and began the initial implementation of the system by year end. Nightingale allows staff to access their unit's schedules via the web and allows them to input their scheduling preferences. Once schedules are published, all staff has the ability to view their unit's schedule. The system also allows the Nursing Department to view current and future staffing across all inpatient units easily and to allocate nursing resources more wisely.
Spectra Link Phones
In 2004 we began using Spectra Link phones on the inpatient units. These wireless phones allow nurses to place and receive calls from wherever they are in the hospital. The nurses and physicians enjoy the direct line of communication and find that it allows them to discuss patient issues in a more timely fashion.
Pediatric Human Patient Simulator
MCH has a Pediatric Human Patient Simulator lab on-site and utilizes that lab to provide training to Nursing and non-nursing staff. Simulations include a variety of situations that nurses may face as they care for pediatric patients. In the simulator lab nurses and other health care professionals can enhance their clinical skills and become more comfortable with how to respond in emergency situations - all in a non-threatening environment.
On-Line Student Orientation
As a national and international center for Pediatric Excellence, MCH is often called upon to provide clinical sites for nursing students regionally, nationally, and internationally. To provide a more efficient process for orienting students and faculty, MCH developed a web-based orientation program. At their convenience, students and faculty are able to access the orientation module and complete it prior to their arrival at MCH. This innovative web-based approach to training has proved to be a major cost saving and effective tool that complements the hospital's efforts in recruiting and reaching out to the largest number of students anytime, anywhere.
iSTAT Point of Care Testing
MCH nurses utilize iSTAT to perform point of care testing. The iSTAT is a portable machine not much bigger than a phone that is brought to the bedside for patient lab testing. With 0.1 cc of blood the nurse can run labs such as blood gas, lactic acid, electrolytes and the results are available within 120 seconds. The results are then downloaded into the patients computer database and available to the entire health care team.
MCH Portal
MCH has its own intranet, or MCH Portal through which staff can access a wealth of information. All nursing policies as well as system wide policies are available via the portal. The portal is also used as a communication tool for employees about MCH events and initiatives. Many of our educational manuals are also accessible through the MCH portal.
Bar Code Technology
Health care organizations throughout the country are looking at computer technology and automation to improve patient outcomes and safety. In 2002, Miami Children's became the first pediatric hospital in the nation to introduce medication bar-code technology - the most sophisticated technology available for medication administration control. Miami Children's Hospital has partnered with Bridge Medical, Inc., to implement and develop a pediatric component for its MedPoint TM System of bar-code-assisted medication administration. Here's how it works. Upon admission, patients receive a bar-code wristband. All medications from the pharmacy also have a specific bar-code. Upon receipt of a medication order, the pharmacist reviews and enters the order in the computer. The medication to be given is displayed on the nurse's computer. The nurse verifies the order for accuracy, scans his or her employee badge and finally scans the patient wristband to verify information. The nurse then selects medication to be administered with the bar-code scanner. The computer checks it for accuracy and the nurse then administers the medication after verifying the match.
Research
Miami Children's Hospital believes that nursing research is an important way to advance the practice and professionalism of its nurses and the nursing profession. In an attempt to create a stronger environment of clinical research, the department assigns a lead by a nurse researcher to assist nurses with hospital-based research.
The following nursing research is currently underway:
- Preliminary phase of a research study aimed at reviewing nursing job satisfaction and nursing recruitment and retention.
- A grounded theory study for a doctoral dissertation that involves the investigation of the experience of parents whose children are in the PICU.
Areas for future investigation include:
- Research on medication errors and barcoding
- The use of nitrous oxide for sedation of children
- Neonatal pain.
In addition, nursing research is promoted and disseminated to the staff in the development of a nursing journal club, which meets quarterly to discuss current issues in research that are pertinent to current nursing practice.