Comments on: Want To Anger a Nurse? Make Smug Comments about Grocery Store Barcoding

By: PTSD

PTSD — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 03:50:51 +0000

Evidentlyby his “take aways”, Leopold Stotch missed the point of this editorial. Nor does he understand the trenches from which this was written. I agree that Nurses shouldn’t be upset by the argument that there is more automation in a grocery store than in a hospital.

Nurses don’t like asking the patient what their allergies and current medications are over and over, not because we are “verifying” them, because we really don’t have a very good process in place and don’t know. Patient’s certainly don’t like it. The technology exists to simplify our lives, just not in healthcare. Vendors and/or regulations/legistlation make it difficult to pull together… but then there are very few emergent situations in a grocery store.

Don’t belittle what nurses have to go through to provide care. Try recognizing the things nurses do to ensure that care is provided and use IT to improve processes to all them to provide efficient care.

Oh, BTW I don’t think there is a eMAR out there that provides a smooth workflow for nurses.(some like Meditech are atrocious UI’s) and I do self scan my grocery items including grapes that require a PLU.

By: The

The — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 17:48:01 +0000

Forget the UPC codes, they are passé and not comprehensively implemented. RFID is acceptable, so what’s the problem with immediate implementation? Is cost an issue as it once was for Wal-Mart?

Word to the wise who dare think Neuromorphic systems.
(http://www.andcorporation.com/frame_company.html) I want to walk up to any clinical portal in the world that I have privileges and access the EMR with my FACE. Simple facial presentation to a web camera at the port of entry could solve a problem for ubiquitous single sign on. If facial recognition is good enough for prisoner identification in Atlanta, then it should help obliterate the HIT prison we have built for ourselves.

By: Leopold Stotch

Leopold Stotch — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 13:41:22 +0000

Ok, I take away from this article that:

1.) Nurses want you to believe that they have the worst job in the world
2.) They’re hypersensitive about it and don’t like someone suggesting they could be doing it better.

Did I miss anything?

By: Greg Hall

Greg Hall — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 01:13:49 +0000

UPC Codes are only secondarily used for tracking in grocery stores. In medical settings, barcodes (and RFID) are always used for tracking. A better analogy would involve barcodes used in supply chain processes.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 00:39:09 +0000

I’m not quite sure why nurses should be so offended by the barcoding/grocery store analogy. That comparison is no more a cheap shot at nurses than it is praising the efficiency of grocery store clerks.
The point is, and always will be that hospitals have not done nearly enough to help their employees succeed. This list is a fairly accurate representation of how complex working in a hospital is and just how likely we are to fail in those scenarios. Trying to succeed in that environment with archaic 19th century processes is certainly deserving of mocking in a national forum such as Forbes. I just don’t know why the nurses are so defensive about it….