Ugh! I worked at a place that also struggled, where there was no float pool, and where agency staff could comprise 1 out of 3 nurses working on any given shift on the inpatient side. Maybe you will get an inspiration from my experience. I certainly don't have any bright ideas.
The travelers who were going to be with us for many weeks went through the same orientation to the system as a regular employee, and that worked out well. The one-day-only nurses could be a real problem, though. There are a number of Meditech hospitals in this area, so it seems like there are a lot of agency nurses who can find their way around Meditech, so we usually had the luxury of telling the agencies that we would not take a nurse or CNA who did not "have" Meditech. But most of the time, these nurses were not familiar with OUR particular Meditech design, and the proper use of the eMAR/BMV system was a constant worry. When the leadership group looked at stats, the nurses with the lowest scanning rates were invariably agency nurses. That's scary, for the patient, the hospital and the nurse. We only took a non-Meditech agency person when we were completely desperate, and of course, when we were completely desperate, we didn't have the luxury to sit around giving this person a Meditech tutorial, or follow him or her around to observe skill level. Another barrier to agency nurse training/documentation was security requirements that were not in the service of clinical units. I'm sure the IT department at this hospital didn't make the rules, but they followed them, and the rules said that no one could have access to Meditech (or anything else) until the person filled out and signed a security form, which was then delivered to IT, and then translated into access. So you can imagine how long that took, especially after hours. The hospital tried setting up a schedule for Meditech training that agency nurses could attend in preparation for working at one of the local Meditech hospitals. It didn't work out, but perhaps it could have, if the idea had had a champion, and someone who was willing to take one more thing onto his/her plate to make it happen. Good luck. Sharon ________________________________ From: meditech-l@mtusers.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Williams, Gladys Sent: Monday, June 18, 2007 12:46 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; meditech-l@mtusers.com Subject: [MEDITECH-L] AGENCY NURSE DOCUMENTATION ORIENTATION Hello- L'ers! Was wondering what organization were doing in terms of training agency staff re: documentation in Meditech? We have been struggling with this issue for a while and need to know what processes you have in place. Thanks. Gladys Williams,RN MBA Sr. Systems Analyst Mt. Sinai Medical Center office: 773-257-6527 fax:773-257-2268 email:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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