Development and testing of computer software for nursing assessment and care planning at a spinal cord injury center.

This paper describes a pilot project using a Macintosh personal computer and customized software to computerize nursing admission assessment and care planning data. The project setting is a 47-bed Spinal Cord Injury Center with two inpatient units and an outpatient department serving approximately 1,000 patients with spinal cord injury at a Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in northern California. The computer software development, implementation, and evaluation are described. This software (MacNursing) was found to be a low cost, customized approach to computerizing spinal cord injury admission assessment data and care planning which reduces repetitive writing and facilitates continuity of care. Personal computers and this software have provided the mechanism for establishing a spinal cord injury patient database.

Vacuum tumescence: an option for spinal cord injured males with erectile dysfunction.

Vacuum tumescence with constriction/retention bands is an option for management of male erectile dysfunction. The appropriateness of this system for individuals with spinal cord injury was evaluated at the Palo Alto, California, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Spinal Cord Injury Center. Following a structured educational program and use of the system for at least 2 months, 13 male subjects and 9 female partners responded to a questionnaire evaluating their satisfaction and the safety of the device. Findings indicate an increase in frequency of intercourse and increased sexual satisfaction with use of the device without occurrence of significant physical problems for the subjects or their partners.