Does each site develop unique solutions or has AAN discovered common findings?
As AAN sifts through the gold mine of solutions created at each of these sites, we are beginning to see several trends. Documentation; communication among patients, families, physicians and across departments; streamlining equipment and supplies; and medication administration are the four work processes prioritized most often among the sites as ripe for improvement through technology. For example, several participating sites recommended implementing computerized provider order entry (CPOE) as part of the electronic records system to help make documentation more efficient. The drill-down process not only uncovered a need for such a change, it called on the technology to have specific features, such as being touch-screen and voice activated, available in real time, multidisciplinary, and universal for use by the provider team in the hospital, in home care and in the physician’s office. In order to improve communication at all levels of health care, participants suggested having a central
