When the quilt shop reopened, the most exciting part was having a longarm quilting machine in the store. Barb is quilting my lap size quilt with an allover pattern done by the computer template in the software (900 choices...really!) It is so fun to watch. I thought about buying one for myself, but the expense and the size were too much to invest in a hobby.
Today I'm splitting my time between quilting, and being outdoors weeding the raspberries. It is a beautiful, cool morning with a gentle breeze and sunshine. Tucker goes out with me and sits nearby. He is very sad when we go inside again. I have the front perimeter of the patch done, so now its time to sew. I am putting together a project Alex helped me pick out. It will be beautiful. I also have to finish the binding on the quilt in the picture. If I get it done, I could enter it in the fair in August. It is not a complicated project, but it will give the store some local advertising.
The electronic health record project is approaching a new phase. The government wants us to enter orders on the computer rather than writing them and having the unit secretary route the orders to the various departments. The hospital bought the software, but it does not come preloaded with logical sets of orders for a particular condition. If we want to avoid the hunt and pick method for each order, we have to come up with our own "order sets". It is incredibly time intensive and requires that the physicians agree on a standard group of orders for each diagnosis. There are companies who will sell a library of sets (for a hefty fee) but you still have to edit them locally and then IT has to build the set into the program one by one. The technology is still in development and changing rapidly. What we invest in today may be obsolete next year, as companies find ways for the computer to think logically and prompt you with suggestions so you avoid duplication or error. Medicare is pushing with financial incentives now followed by financial penalties later. Ultimately, they want medical data they can analyse and mine in order to save money, and moniter "quality of care/patient outcomes" I am of the opinion if they want the data, they should give us the software and program it so it is ready to go from day 1. The more standardized it is, the more efficient, but the less thought goes into caring for the individual patient and the nuances of a particular illness in context. Potential exists for a great tool which is useful and saves time. It is also possilbe to do things quickly without thinking just to get it done or to meet a government deadline. Pray for wisdom as we move forward.
As for me, its time to quilt. :)
