13th Annual National Symposium on ED Information System             

Successful EDIS implementation combined with attention to process change is invaluable. This was the message at the 13th Annual National Symposium on ED Information Systems held in New Orleans, Louisiana Dec 9-13, 2007
Associate Course Director Al Villarin moderated an interesting panel with Rick Mackenzie and Chris DeFlitch:  “Success Stories: Triage and Process Change”.
The Symposium was punctuated with a steady dose of reminders of reality checks, pitfalls to avoid and the need for due diligence with a team approach to purchase, implementation and maintenance of a system. Many of the registrants attended the Symposium with a team from their hospital.    

  
The 4 day conference schedule allowed for full mornings of formal presentations and 3 full afternoons of exhibit hall time. Registrants attended the exhibits armed with information from the morning presentations to intelligently evaluate the systems they are considering.

Todd Taylor opened the Symposium with a highly entertaining and informative overview of EDIS and a sobering caution to those who dare to “go into the water.”

Rick Mackenzie addressed head-on the fears of Computerized Order Entry (CPOE) when he portrayed a successful implementation of CPOE in his ED.
The concept of process redesign as essential to successful implementation was the focus of Todd Rothenhaus’s talk and a theme that continually resurfaced throughout the conference. Al Villarin, Rick Mackenzie and Chris DeFlitch presented panels on Process Redesign as guided by EDIS data as well as Using EDIS Data to Leverage Quality of Care. Jon Handler artfully demonstrated how he uses data on the local, national and global level in his talk on Using ED Data for Analytics and Research. 

Rick Mackenzie and Courtney Vose RN presented a unique session focusing on Getting Staff Buy-in to accept change. Lisa Romano RN presented an impactful case study of how she used special software to track the admission process along with process change that markedly improved patient flow in her ED and throughout her institution.

Associate Course Director Cathy Glenz presented an indispensable how- to- guide for the implementation process. 
Lively audience-interactive discussions in a talk-show format were skillfully led by  Keith Connover and Todd Taylor: Best of Breed vs Enterprise Systems; Barriers to Adoption of a System; and the Politics of IS. Later in the course Chris DeFlitch presented a wrap-up of the Politics of IS.

Many attendees came to the conference to face the pressure to use the ED module of a hospital IS. This was addressed in a variety of formats and presentations, including networking opportunities throughout the conference. Alan Forstater facilitated a presentation on interface issues and engaged the audience in discussions of realistic concerns when purchasing and implementing a new system or in facing an institution’s mandate to use the EDIS component of their enterprise system IS. Registrants were grouped with colleagues who had the same systems to promote networking to address similar issues. Attendees facing such pressures were appreciative of the information and tools provided to them by the end of the conference.

To help registrants shop wisely Cathy Glenz RN and Al Vierling RN presented a focus on features to look for when purchasing an EDIS.  To arm registrants with the tools they need to negotiate effectively Al presented an overview on Contracts and Return on Investment. Later Al led a special workshop on Return on Investment, which received high praises from attendees.

Provider charting was featured in three ways.  Todd Rothenhaus presented “Challenging Use Cases” to assist the buyer in objectively analyzing the charting and processing capabilities of the various vendors’ systems. Registrants were given Model cases that they can use to test-drive an EDIS to simulate their real-life value. Cathy Glenz presented valuable information on Nursing Documentation.

The course’s unique Charting Demonstration gave 9 vendors the opportunity to show how a nurse and physician chart on each of those products when presented with a mock patient in front of the Symposium audience. This year a new feature of the demo is the addition of flash macromedia to record the actual screen captures of the charting of that case.  This will be posted on the isEDIS.com website for registrants to review after the conference.

A special session was held for IT professionals orienting them to the unique needs of the ED. Keith Conover spoke to them about User Interaction Design.
Mike Gillam gave us a titillating taste of Informatics in the future. Keith Conover and James Aiken presented an eye-opening view of their experiences in delivering care during Katrina while illustrating how technology may fail in a disaster.

Attendees agreed that the Symposium provides a unique body of knowledge presented in an informative and entertaining format. It affords the registrants an opportunity to evaluate the leading vendors in the EDIS field. As a unique added value the course provides a forum for attendees to network with colleagues who have similar ED information systems or who have similar challenges in buying or implementing one. This premier course is a must for anyone planning on buying or implementing an ED Information System.