In recent years, advances in information technology have enabled nurses to move away from traditional centralized paper-charting stations to smaller decentralized stations and charting substations located closer to patient rooms. Now, wireless phones, notebook computers, and handheld devices are making nurses even more mobile. But even as technology enables the nursing function to become more decentralized, standards-setting entities like the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations are pushing for more collaborative care between nurses, doctors, and support staff. "Healthcare has become a multidisciplinary practice," says Tammy Felker, RN, medical planner with NBBJ Architects, Seattle. "Nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, and clergy all need a place to interact. But nurses' stations, as we know them, have not been equipped to serve these needs."
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