In the news and helpful hints

VA halts 45 IT projects (from www.healthcareitnews.com)

SSO provides relief for password headaches (also www.healthcareitnews.com)
SSO, or Single Sign On, is one, long overdue piece that is left out of many network authentication systems. Signing on to multiple information systems (mainframe, PC, etc.) during the course of a day can be mind-boggling, considering security and logging issues in hospital systems.

HINT: Do yourself a favor--rotate your passwords in a scheme you can remember. Don't write them down, but do write down any hints that may help you remember your scheme. If you rotate them regularly, based on your network rules (every 30, 60, 90 days, etc.), it's easier to remember, too. There are some password keeper programs (such as this one from SplashData) you may be able to use on a personal device (i.e. PDA, smartphone). Whatever you do...don't write your passwords down anywhere they can be used to access your account.

Ask your system administrator (if they'll tell you) how many unique passwords you need to have in a year. Many system administrators require xx amount of unique passwords per year or per system. In one of my former lives, our system kept a record of your last 6 passwords; another system only four.

News items of note

Yes, I'm still here but busy working and prepping for every kind of test you can imagine.

Here are a few news items I've culled of interest in IT. Note: not all of them pertain directly to your life on the floor as an RN, but they tell the background story of the world of IT right now.

Think they can't outsource health care? Think again. Infosys, one of the largest IT outsourcing shops in the world is looking at taking on the US health care market (from the WSJ Health Blog.)
President Obama discusses the importance of IT in health care yet again.

Emerging Technologies in Nurse Education is a seminar sponsored by Reed Elsevier, primarily for nursing educators. It brings up some very interesting topics, particularly use of simulator tools for nursing students.

GeekDoctor brings up another hot IT topic: Green IT. Green IT discusses ways of saving energy in the use of IT equipment by powering down servers and workstations when they are not in use. This can be better said than done in a 24/7/365 health care environment, and GeekDoctor highlights some interesting solutions.

One RN describes a weekend without technology on her unit in this article. End of Shift: Nurses get Back to Basics. (from http://www.nurse.com/)

And finally, in the cool toys section, http://www.medgadget.com/ discusses the latest and greatest pulse oximeter. I'd really love to have one of these on the floor!

Technology in the news

Hospitals and Health Networks magazine has an article about the implementation of IT on nursing in a rural hospital setting. Another article, also in this same magazine discusses wireless technology.

Since I carry a PalmPilot wherever I go, I'd be happy if there were more publicly accessible wireless access points in hospitals. It's very handy especially if your cell phone doesn't work well in the hospital.

Articles of note

It was a busy end of the year for me, both personally and professionally. My resolution this year is to work further on this blog and point the way to some of the better articles out there.

As I mentioned before, I find a lot of good things in my mailbox via listservs. Here's one from the nrsing-l listserv

Infection control and mobile devices
Time savers or harbors for infection? This article brings up some pretty valid points about infection control and IT collaboration.

Day one

Welcome to IT RN. The intent of this blog is to find the best articles and links to technology resources of interest to practicing nurses.

I'm not affiliated with any technology companies, so I hope to just throw you the links to interesting sites and articles and let you decide for yourselves what you like and what you don't like.

Any opinions expressed in this blog are my two cents and do not imply any warranty or guarantee. Consequently, if you landed here for health care advice, I suggest you contact your friendly, neighborhood health care provider for information tailored specifically to your needs, since this blog is about technology in the health care setting.

Technology is ever expanding and its role in nursing is, too. I hope this blog can provide additional information on how it can and will make a difference in your nursing practice.

Thanks for visiting and let's get it! IT RN is technology for nurses.