Chatham Hospital

Chatham Hospital has been using Ascend-IP since December 2000. Susan Watson, Chatham's Director of Pharmacy, had this to say about Ascend-IP:

"I recently (Sept 2003) talked with a potential Ascend-IP customer who had called me for information about the program. I was able to answer all of his questions with a very positive YES! I also told him that I have five part-time pharmacy staff who have all commented that Ascend-IP is very user-friendly. These staff members have used other systems/programs and have very positive comments about Ascend-IP. One pharmacist I recently trained was able to work alone after only 2 hours of training on Ascend-IP!"

"I think the program is well-designed and very easy to understand. The implementation went fairly smoothly. Our beginning [drug formulary] database was imported from our prior system. This data needed lots of editing to make it work smoothly with the program. This was not Hanns-On's fault; we just had a poor system prior to Ascend-IP.

The training was very good and most helpful. I would have liked more written training materials; I forgot how to use some features after awhile. [Editor: reference documents are available from our web site and from the program's help menu. These may be viewed or printed as needed.]

We love the program's ease of operation. Order entry can usually be accomplished in 2 to 4 entries. [Editor: newer features now enable order entry to be accomplished in 1 step in many cases]. One thing we would like is an easier way to enter decreasing-dose orders. [Note: an upcoming feature will make this process simpler.]

Using the program has made our pharmacy much more efficient and clinically stronger. For example, Ascend-IP's interaction surveillance is very good. The technical staff has also been very supportive in all areas of concern. Their responses have been timely and complete. Kim McPherson, our HOS support/training technician, is a wonderfully conscientious person and has helped us greatly.

I recommend Hann's On Software because they have a reliable, quality product with excellent support. I do love the program!"