Mediware Signs Agreement with AORN; Perioperative Nursing Data Set to be Included in PCMWin.

Business and Health Editors

LENEXA, Kan.--(BW HealthWire)--Aug. 24, 2000

Mediware Information Systems, Inc., (Nasdaq:MEDW) announced the signing of an agreement with AORN, the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses, to incorporate AORN's Perioperative Nursing Data Set (PNDS) into PCMWin.

The PNDS is a standardized nursing vocabulary developed by AORN. It identifies data elements and nursing language common to the perioperative nursing practice. The American Nurses Association (ANA) has officially recognized the data set as "useful to the practice of nursing."

Clinical consultant for Mediware, Shirley Sutton-Rop, RN, BS, CNOR, said: "This is very exciting news. The addition of the PNDS into PCMWin will allow clients to utilize industry standard language in their perioperative document, a document that records the total surgical procedure. There are numerous benefits for nursing in the incorporation of the PNDS. It gives us the ability to compare what we do for our patients. It also gives us the tools to analyze the resources needed to achieve specific outcomes and will provide nurses with the ability to be able to benchmark hospital perioperative practices against those of other facilities. In addition, it will help make nursing care more visible. Mediware is an early adopter of this new language that is so vital to today's perioperative patient care and the nursing profession, and it should be a great asset for both the patients and the clients."

PCMWin (Perioperative Case Management for Windows) provides information management for the complete operating room environment by supplying real-time case charting throughout the O.R. and the scheduling process. The information captured during the scheduling and surgical event process forms an accurate, comprehensive database that will provide healthcare personnel with management information that is crucial in identifying performance improvement opportunities, and assist the surgical administrator in running their department as a fine-tuned business.

Mediware Information Systems is a leader in clinical information systems in three areas of the health care industry - pharmacy (WORx(tm), Pharmakon(R), and Digimedics(tm)) blood bank (Hemocare(tm), LifeTrak(tm) and LifeLine(tm)) and the operating room (PCMWin(tm) and Surgiware(tm)). Mediware has over 1,100 systems installed in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and elsewhere.

AORN is the professional organization of approximately 42,000 perioperative registered nurses whose mission is to promote quality patient care by providing its members with education, standards, services, and representation. Please visit AORN at www.aorn.org.