On line procedure manuals

[Max001]

Just wondering:

1. How many of you have an online procedure manual?

2. What 'language' is it in? (.pdf - adobe acrobat; text - word processor; hypertext - html, windows help - .hlp file, windows html help - chm file; built in context sensitive popup files built into your BB software.)

3. How usable is it, how often is it used.

4. Who is still using a paper manual as their primary manual.

5. How many would like to have an on-line manual?

I created a very robust hypertext BB manual back in 1994 but the lab discontinued use due to funding problems, paying a nominal fee to keep it updated (They changed stuff weekly).

TIA

PS, this is not an attempt to sell the concept. I don't do it anymore.

[krichards]

Our procedure manual is available both on paper, as well as online as word documents. This is a very recent addition for us.

As many of our techs are highly experienced, I am not sure how much use either version gets. I can tell you that our newer techs prefer the online version; our more senior techs tend to prefer the paper...probably a case of old habits dying hard.

[dmpollock]

I use an online procedure manual. All files are HTML. The procedures are more concise, since you can say "Specimens: see specimen acceptance procedure" with a hyperlink to the specimen acceptance.

Paper copies are no longer kept. You need a good backup process if you get rid of the paper copies.

Annual review: I send myself an email with a list of procedures I reviewed, then save it is a PDF which is linked to from those procedures.

[Joanne P. Scannell]

I'm interested in these ideas and hearing about your experiences, too!

We are planning an 'online' SOP for the whole lab. Right now, our procedures are stored on a 'shared drive' that all the supervisors can access. We want to have them accessed via the 'intranet' so they are available from any computer by anyone who can sign on to the system. These are mearly links that point to the document in a 'read only' mode. If the document is modified by a supervisor, after the system refreshes (every 10 minutes, I'm told) the new version will be seen. Each procedure has a 'Document Control' section at the end that bears all the document control info, including annual reviews.

We haven't implemented this yet. Has anyone has experience using 'electronic' procedures like this? If so, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

[adiescast]

We have a shared drive with all procedures on it in Word format with read-only protections. These include the annual reviews records. Retired procedures go to another spot on the shared drive, with the file name changed to "[original filename] retired [date]." All are backed up with an up-to-date paper version in the appropriate lab section in case of computer downtime.

[Mary**]

We have both. I STRONGLY encourage everyone to have an online procedure manual. My hospital was flooded in June and we lost everything, including the paper copies. If we didn't have the procedures on line (which took awhile to be restored), we would have had to recreate them all.

[Mini Me]

Hi

We had our procedures online as well as on paper for a long time, but recently we got rid of all of our paper copies of procedures. I love online procedures. Easy to find on the click of the button.

Thanks

[Franklyn]

The problem with on-line procedures is that if they can be printed you end up with uncontrolled documents floating around in the pockets of your bench staff. We are in the progress of rolling our own document control system (we would love to buy one of the very nice commercial systems but that falls into the "enterprise wide" bucket and the budget is too tight to take the plunge). Our home rolled system outputs PDF documents that cannot be printed or copied as the "public and electronic" procedure manual. The actual document are in DOC format but only accessible to senior staff. Our method will be a hybrid but we are looking forward to the change from paper manuals. Particularly for "GEN" documents (like safety SOPs) where you need to update multiple copies in multiple labs whenever something changes.