FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 12, 2001

CONTACT:
Cindy Price, 202-651-7038
Hope Hall, 202-651-7027
rn=realnews@ana.org
www.nursingworld.org/rnrealnews

WASHINGTON, DC – The American Nurses Association's (ANA) Nursing Information and Data Set Evaluation Center (NIDSEC) today announced recognition of LastWord® Enterprise Clinical System, a software program from Burlington, VT-based IDX Systems Corporation (Nasdaq: IDXC), which is used by nurses and other clinicians to document and manage clinical practice activities in the acute-care setting. It is the second product NIDSEC has recognized since 1998.

The LastWord® system includes software that allows the nurse to chart and update care activities directly from a computer-based personal worklist, track a patient's progress against a standard care plan or critical path, and document variances online.

"The LastWord® system meets all the NIDSEC criteria evaluating the completeness, accuracy and appropriateness of nomenclature, clinical content, clinical data repository, and general system characteristics that are supported by ANA," said ANA President Mary Foley, MS, RN.

"Being selected for NIDSEC recognition is tremendous validation of the LastWord® system's role in professional nursing practice," said IDX President and Chief Operating Officer James H. Crook Jr. "It is one of the leading clinical information systems available today, and the recognition by NIDSEC clearly confirms this."

Responding to the growing use of computerized information systems in health care and the need for professional standards in this area, the American Nurses Association (ANA) established the Nursing Information and Data Set Evaluation Center (NIDSEC) in 1996. NIDSEC is the only group that has developed standards related to nursing data and information systems. The center has produced NIDSEC Standards and Scoring Guidelines pertaining to the automated information systems that nurses use to document nursing care. The center evaluates information systems voluntarily submitted by developers against NIDSEC standards. NIDSEC recognition lasts for three years.

NIDSEC was proposed by a joint task force appointed by the ANA Congress of Nursing Practice Steering Committee on Databases to Support Clinical Nursing Practice and the ANA Congress of Nursing Practice Committee on Nursing Practice Standards and Guidelines.

For further information regarding NIDSEC recognition, contact Carol J. Bickford, PhD, RNC, senior policy fellow, ANA Department of Nursing Practice, at 202-651-7060 or cbickfor@ana.org. To obtain the NIDSEC Standards and Scoring Guidelines, ($12 for members of State Nurses Associations, $12.50 for non-members) contact ANA Publications at 1-800-637-0323. For information on obtaining the NIDSEC Application Packet, ($100) contact Yvonne Humes in the ANA Department of Nursing Practice at 202-651-7070 or yhumes@ana.org.

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The American Nurses Association is the only full-service professional organization representing the nation's 2.6 million Registered Nurses through its 54 constituent associations. ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

The LastWord® Clinical Enterprise System is an integrated clinical information system that includes more than 15 applications to help automate clinical, financial and administrative processes throughout health care organizations. Founded in 1969, IDX Systems Corporation uses information technology to maximize value in the delivery of health care, improve the quality of patient service, enhance medical outcomes, and reduce the costs of care. For more information, please visit the IDX Web site at www.idx.com.

2001 press releases

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