What is trending on the PIN ListServ?

INQUIRY: Ward/Unit Secretary 

Just wondering if you are using a ward/unit secretary in your CAH hospitals?  If so what hours do they work?  Would you be willing to share a job description?  Any tips on how to utilize them to the max?  Do they take call if low census?

Responses:

• We currently have a ward/unit secretary Mon-Fri from 0730 to 1600. No one on the weekend.
• Fallon Medical has a ward clerk/CNA scheduled 24/7.  The two jobs is combined into one job description and staffed with one person.   The ward clerk part of the position is responsible for the doing the registration for all the ER patients and all of the outpatients.  The CNA part of the position is responsible for the CNA care provided in the ER and the hospital census.  If the hospital census is low the CNA floats and helps the CNAs in the Long Term Care.
• I am just getting ready to add a ward clerk to my schedule for 4-6 hours per week to organize charts etc that I or nursing staff does not have time to do
• Job descriptions shared by Fallon Medical Complex and Prairie Community Hospital are posted in the CAH Document Library on the PIN Website.

Just wondering if anyone is willing to charge your process for provider charges.  Does your provider fill out a form specifying what level to charge for ER and Hospital or do you have someone in the billing office or medical records code off dictation?  What kind of training have they received if that is the case?

• We use Epic for our EMR and the provider can do charge capture in the EM.  When they fail to enter their charges we have a registration clerk that completes the charging.   She also enters supply charges.

  ACEP has standard criteria for each level of provider charging  and that is what we use.

• Our providers fill out a paper charge ticket for their charges.  The nursing staff does the levels for the ER and scans the supply charges.  I have attached a couple of different ER charge levels I use for the nursing staff.  
   

 
INQUIRY: E-Prescribe

For those of you that use e prescribe is it a time saver for you?  I spend a lot of time doing refill requests, i.e.  last clinic visit, labs up to date etc, then fill out the request and fax it back.  In your opinion is e prescribe a time saver?

• For those of you that use e prescribe is it a time saver for you?  I spend a lot of time doing refill requests, i.e.  last clinic visit, labs up to date etc, then fill out the request and fax it back.  In your opinion is e prescribe a time saver?
• We have just installed it at BHC. And I absolutely agree with Stephanie Forbes. It does appear to be more time consuming.
• Is anyone considering the time for the calls to clarify a bad rx and patient waiting for those questions to be answered before the rx can be filled?