THREEYEARSEXPERIENCEWITHAPATIENTDATA MANAGEMENTSYSTEMATANEONATALINTENSIVE CAREUNIT

We report about our experience with the patient data management system (PDMS) Hewlett Packard CareVue 9000 at two neonatal ICUs. We describe our PDMS con¢g- uration (hard- and software), local adjustments and enhance- ments such as knowledge based systems for calculating the parenteral nutrition of newborn infants (VIE-PNN), for advising medication (VIE-Nmed), and for managing me- chanical ventilation (VIE-VENT), and the results of a struc- tured interview with our stai members about the acceptance of the system. Despite some criticism nearly all collaborators liked the system, especially because of its time saving auto- mated documentation of vital data and mechanical ventilation parameters. More than 2/3 preferred the computer assisted documentation to charting by hand, only 1/41 would have liked to return to paper documentation. All stai members possessed excellent (15/39) or good (24/39) knowledge of the system. Main points of critique were the system's therapy planning facilities (medication administration records), the restrictive facilities for documenting patient care and the yet unsolved problems of data evaluation and export. PDM systems have to be constantly adapted to the user's needs and to the changing clinical environment. Living with the system asks for an intensive dialog with the system and its functionalities, for creativity and well de¢ned ideas about the future system development.