Automation of the medical chart

A properly implemented automated charting system should improve patient care by providing patient information in more meaningful formats to assist the nurse and physician in making better, more timely decisions. It should save the nurse's time in collecting and recording data. Most importantly, it should economically benefit the hospital by making the nursing staff more efficient and decrease missed DRG reimbursements. Better charting will also decrease the hospital's exposure to medical liability. Patient charting should be an integral part of a nurse's daily activities, not something added to the end of the shift. The automation of the patient chart should allow the nurse to enter the data into the computer throughout the day without interfering with normal nursing activities. It is evident that a need exists and software is now becoming available to fill that need. The next five years should see automated patient charting as one of the fastest growing areas in medical computing.