 |
| The old Pacific Hospital had a similar sailboat logo. That ship has sailed. |
Oh boy, it looks like transitioning from Pacific Hospital of
Long Beach to College Medical Center is going to take some major adjustments
(I'm trying not to say that it's going to be a mess). The electronic medical
records system has to be reprogrammed to the needs and procedures of College
Hospital and even the paper forms may have to be replaced. Hopefully the
learning curve won't be too great once the new system is in place. For those
who have resisted in learning the former system or were not using them enough,
they may have a more difficult time to learn the new one.
Based on how many people they haven't rehired, one can
assume (mistakenly or correctly) that either College Hospital is going to bring
in their own staff, hire replacements, or reduce the number of floor staff from
the numbers that Pacific Hospital used. That would mainly affect the Behavioral
Health Workers who monitor the patients closely on the units and possibly the
Licenced Vocational Nurses or Licensed Psychiatric Technicians who pass out the
medications. The Registered Nurses shouldn't be affected since there is a legal
requirement for them to be assigned only a certain number of patients (patient
ratio).
Having not even been interviewed much less rehired, I will
only have to be there for about 3 weeks to see all these changes. Already some
of my soon to be former coworkers mentioned that I'm going to be missed because
I was the only one assembling charts for new admissions. They never took the
time to learn my streamlined system. But it's not rocket science and easy for
them to pick up.
When PHLB transitioned from strictly paper charts to the electronic
medical record system, I had the foresight to retain the old paper charts in
case of computer down times. Those papers were the only backup system the
hospital had which were already preassembled, although separate sheets still
existed in cabinets. I also have about 200 chart packs already made which goes
with the EMR system, which would have tided over the unit I work in for about 6
weeks before the retained staff would have to make their own. Of course all of
those old and new charts would be useless if College Hospital opts for their
own forms. They will have to sort out which papers are needed and which are not
so they can work together with the EMR without duplication.
Communicating and taking care of psychiatric patients are
ongoing learning processes because no two patients are alike and even a patient
behaving a certain way during one hospital stay may not behave the same way
next time. Paperwork remains more or less the same and this happens to be my
specialty. I'm sure that the retained staff and the rest who will be newly
hired will adjust to the new system sooner or later but they will have to take
more initiative in doing so. I just take pride in thinking that I learn them
sooner than most and find the most efficient way of applying them during the
course of my work. Will they really miss me? Perhaps only for a couple of
weeks, they they'll adjust and it will be business as usual. Thanks for
thinking of me that way though. If only the staff recruiter knew...
p.s. My other posts regarding this matter:
Questions and Concerns at Pacific Hospital - Part 1
Questions and
Concerns at Pacific Hospital - Part 5
Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!p.s. My other posts regarding this matter:
Questions and Concerns at Pacific Hospital - Part 1
No comments:
Post a Comment