Cindy Meagher, RN
Assistant Chief Nurse Executive
Fairfield Memorial
Fairfield, Illinois
163-Bed Facility

A HISTORY WITH HMS
"Fairfield Memorial computerized our entire hospital about three and a half years ago. The hospital was already using HMS's Patient Accounting and Medical Records solutions when I was asked to coordinate the installation of HMS's Physician's Order Entry and Patient Care Documentation modules.

"Because of our success with those modules, Fairfield was asked to be the beta site for eMAR. We're proud of what we've helped HMS develop and look forward to adding the bar coding feature of eMAR in the next year or so."

WORKING THE PROBLEM
"eMAR has so many safeguards. Because it's linked into the pharmacy system, it can immediately tell you if a medication order is incorrect or how a certain medication interacts with others. Plus, the system's drug alerts won't even let you enter a medication in the system if it's too high of a dose or if it triggers a patient allergy.

"Another bonus is that nurses no longer have to hand-write MARs (medication administration records); it's all computerized. Pharmacy and nursing can immediately double-check each other, which greatly reduces any waiting time between those two departments."

THE SOLUTION SETS IN
"HMS has always been so helpful and receptive to all of our needs. Their solutions have already paid off for our nursing staff.

"For example, the installing of eMAR has definitely brought patient safety to a head and has made our nurses more aware of safety issues. It's also made me realize that technology is the future of nursing. If you don't get on the bandwagon now, eventually you will be made to.

"Someone asked me, 'Why do you want to be the beta test of eMAR?' My answer is, 'Why not be in on the development end of a product like this?' We've been able to develop eMAR into what we want and need. As a result, we can be on the leading edge."