New
York Eye and Ear Infirmary Becomes First Specialty Hospital
to Achieve Magnet Status
(12/23/2009)
MEDITECH is excited to announce that
customer New York Eye and Ear Infirmary (NYEEI) recently
became the first specialty hospital ever to achieve Magnet
status—one of the most prestigious honors recognizing
excellence in nursing. Like many other high-achieving
hospitals, the organization found that ongoing staff
dedication, careful planning, and solid technologies were the
keys to their clinical success.
"The rigorous application process, which we referred to
as the 'Magnet Journey,' enabled us to take a close look at
our nursing processes, and implement the changes necessary to
improve the quality and safety of our care," says Sonja
S. Tennaro, RN, senior vice president of clinical operations
and chief nursing officer at NYEEI. "We made sure that
Magnet status was a goal for every one of our nurses to
strive toward."
President & CEO D. McWilliams Kessler also expressed
pride in his organization's ability to stay on course
throughout the effort. "Earning Magnet status is a
tremendous achievement for NYEEI," he says. "It is
an honor that reaffirms the hard work and dedication of our
entire staff, and reinforces the core values by which we all
do our jobs every day."
Using
Technology to Support Specialty Care Environments
A large part of NYEEI's journey to Magnet status focused on
improving efficiencies in the hospital's eye and ear
specialty-care environment, which Dr. Tennaro explains was
attainable through the investment of their MEDITECH HCIS.
"We are very pleased with how MEDITECH's HCIS fits into
the unique environment of a specialty hospital," says Dr.
Tennaro. "Our facility conducts a number of complicated
head and neck surgery procedures, so it was essential for our
nurses to have the most up-to-date information about their
patients—before, during, and after treatment."
By using MEDITECH's Nursing software, nurses at NYEEI were
also able to assess and document patients' progress in real
time. "Monitoring and documenting even the most basic
things, such as a patient's swallow patterns, can be crucial
for a patient recovering from a head or neck surgery,"
says Dr. Tennaro. "With this information stored in the
MEDITECH system, the patient's diet or route of medication
can be altered appropriately and quickly, based on the nurse's
assessment."
Reducing
Redundancies in Care
With patient information documented electronically, nurses
are able to easily validate patient information on-line,
according to Dr. Tennaro. "For a specialty hospital,
having all the information available at our nurses'
fingertips is essential, especially for those patients we see
several times per month, or even per week," she says.
In addition to enhancing communication between different
caregivers, NYEEI's MEDITECH solution is also helping the
organization to reduce redundancies, which in turn, is
leading to greater patient satisfaction and higher standards
overall.
"Our system is helping to
facilitate care which is more patient-centric," Dr.
Tennaro says. "Because all information is documented on-line,
our patients are assured that the nurses are always fully
aware of their situations, without having to ask them the
same questions over and over again."
Nurses
Set Example for Physicians' Use of I.T.
Perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that the nurses' recent
technology successes are also catching the attention of NYEEI's
physicians. "Achieving Magnet status, and our efforts
with MEDITECH, are certainly inspiring our physicians to move
forward with their own electronic documentation initiatives,"
says Dr. Tennaro, noting that the hospital has already taken
steps to prepare for the implementation of their physician
system.
"NYEEI has formed an executive steering committee to
help draw interest and support from the physicians," she
says. "Our goal is for the entire hospital to be
paperless—and with the progress we've already made,
along with the commitment from our executives, nurses, and
physicians, I believe this will soon become a reality."
MEDITECH
Medical
Information Technology, Inc.
MEDITECH Circle
Westwood, MA 02090
781-821-3000
www.meditech.com