Reprint from "Life at Arden Wood"

Space-age Technology Frees Nurses to Focus on Service

A flick of the wrist is all it takes! Graduate nurse Susan Harrington scans the bar code outside a patient's room so that she can record the services rendered.

Computers and bar-code scanning have revolutionized grocery stores, offices and Arden Wood. With their help, nurses are minimizing their time with clerical duties and maximizing time with patients.
Scanners are small electronic devices about the size of hand calculators. They work on the same principle as do the checkout stands at most grocery stores. As the light beam from the scanner is passed over a predetermined bar code, the message of the bar code is recorded in the memory of the scanner.)
This computerized assistance has met a very specific need. For years nurses have been required to keep careful records of their work with patients. This used to be a time-consuming task, as all records were handwritten.
Scanner charting at Arden Wood is now a vision come true. When the nurses come on duty, they each pick up a scanner to use that day. First they scan over their own individualized code which they carry with them on a bar code card in their pocket to identify themselves to the scanner.
When entering a patient's room, the nurse scans the bar code outside the room to start the clock and inputs the room number. When finished attending to the patient, he or she again takes out the scanner and pocket bar code card and quickly scans over the appropriate codes to list which services have been rendered. Finally, the nurse scans the nursing time code. This whole process takes only a few seconds.

At different time intervals each scanner is put into a downloader, which is hooked up to the main computer. The information in the scanner empties into the computer, enabling us to get clear, exact printed copies each day of the services rendered in each room.

What a difference this has made in the nurse's day!. This is a wonderful example of technology serving its true purpose: to serve.