September is here, Labor Day has passed, and the summer is over.  While campers go back to being students, camp directors jump right into planning next summer.  Camp staff spend the fall months discussing and debriefing how they can make next year even more successful.  As you reflect on this past summer, I challenge you to think about how you can improve the health and safety at your camp.  What can you do to make next summer even safer?

Here are a few questions to consider when thinking about how to increase efficiency, reduce risk, decrease costs and improve health staff morale:

• Why do you still collect camper medical information on paper?  Are there any benefits to paper health forms, or do you do it because that’s how it’s always been done?

• How much time does your camp registrar spend organizing and filing camper health forms?  How much time do they spend calling and emailing families who have not turned their forms in?

• Does your camp nurse ever have a hard time locating camper health forms?  What about in an emergency?

• Do you ever have difficulty deciphering a parent’s handwriting?  What could happen if you misinterpret medical information?

• How confident are you that your unit leaders and kitchen staff are aware of every camper’s food allergies?

• Are you positive that camper medications are being organized and distributed correctly?  Has your camp ever had a medication error?

• Why do you record camper illness and injury in a health log?  Does that bound book sit on a shelf and collect dust at the end of the summer?  Would you even be able to read what you wrote in the first place?

I hope these questions get you thinking that maybe there is a better way to keep track of such critical information.  What do you know about Electronic Health Records?  We hear about them everyday in the news, and interact with them often when we are in a doctor’s office or hospital.  Over the past few years a growing number of camps have started to see the incredible benefits of EHRs, but many are still hesitant to take the leap.

Electronic Health Records can eliminate the problems of paper health forms, and ensure that your camp has higher quality, complete documentation that is legible and organized.  CampDoc.com will give your health staff instant access to vital medical information, decrease the time and energy you spend during initial camper check-in and eliminate the problem of illegible handwriting.  Our EHR can also help reduce the risk of preventable medication errors, and improve risk management for illness and injury prevention.

As you discuss with your staff how you can make your camp even safer this fall, spend some time talking with other camp directors and nurses about how EHRs have already improved the health and safety at their camp, and challenge yourself to seriously consider what your camp, and most importantly your campers, will gain from Electronic Health Records too!

Happy camping,

Kirsten