ARTICLE
QUESTION: Have any other agencies used electronic MARs? If so, what has been your experience? It takes awhile to work out the bugs, train the pharmacy, and learn the system. It is great to see in real time when meds were charted or not, it is much easier to detect a missed medication. Nurses can see new or changed orders in a timely fashion. It has helped prevent a lot of inaccuracies with orders. It gives nurses a chance to review and approve orders prior to clients starting the medication. Remote locations struggle with syncing due to poor internet service. It is nice that 90 days are computer generated instead of hand written, it saves a lot of time. We have been using electronic MAR's for about 18 months and are very happy. We use a product named Caresuite, with interfaces to our long term care pharmacies for our residential clients, so changes and additions automatically flow into our product for our nurses to approve. The only meds we have to manually add are those for non-residential clients, or short term meds picked up at a local pharmacy. This product also allows for assigning additional tracking like vitals (temperature checks through covid), BM tracking, etc. One of our favorite features is that for diabetics, the staff input the reading and it tells them the exact dose to give rather than them having to look at a chart and figure it out. This information is a compilation of suggestions, ideas, and opinions shared by INARF Members in response to the featured question. This information should not be considered official interpretation or guidance of State or Federal Policy. Additionally, statements within this document do not necessarily reflect an official position or opinion of INARF.
QUESTION: Have any other agencies used electronic MARs? If so, what has been your experience?