Eliminating the paperwork crisis

All the information in a patient's medical record will be available online at The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Australia. The hospital will implement Tower Technology’s Clinical Record Information System (CRIS). The new software will eliminate the need for paper records and provide instantaneous, 24-hour access to patient records by staff, regardless of location, according to a recent news release.

Using CRIS, all new patient records--from desktop applications, Web sessions, e-mail, scanned and faxed paper documents--are filed and presented to the clinician as a digital folder. Copies of electronic reports are automatically downloaded and filed against patient records, making them immediately available as part of an integrated electronic record.

The new system will improve patient record efficiency and responsiveness, according to Dr. Ralph Hanson, director of information services at The Children's Hospital at Westmead.

"Over 27,000 patients are admitted to The Children's Hospital each year," says Hanson. "The hospital processes over 23,000 new medical records a year (with an average of 89 pages per record), so a system that enables us to manage these records more efficiently is a welcome addition. All new documents will be scanned in, and we expect this to create enormous savings in records processing and storage space in the future."

Electronic files reduce the chance that records are lost, misplaced or destroyed, according to Tower Technology, and subjects them to a high level of security. While the system makes files easier to access, staff will be granted different levels of security access to ensure patient confidentiality.

"We expect there to be significant productivity gains for both clinical and non-clinical staff who work with medical records," says Hanson. "Ready access to an integrated medical record through the desktop will help improve patient care and ensure the security of medical records."