Uniontown Hospital changes charting system
Paper-based charts and health records are a thing of the past, at least for caregivers at Uniontown Hospital. Doctors and nurses no longer have to thumb through thick folders stuffed with papers. Instead of spending several minutes searching through records and deciphering messy handwriting, they are able to log on to computers and have access to patients’ medical records within seconds.
Officials said during a Wednesday press conference that Uniontown is the only local hospital to use electronic medical records – the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center no longer uses paper medical charts, either – and the increased technology not only supports hospital and medical staff, but also allows caregivers to treat patients more effectively.
“Information technology is a critical component in our ability to better care for our patients,” said Paul Bacharach, president and CEO of Uniontown Hospital.
According to Bacharach, only 13 percent of all hospitals nationwide are using electronic medical records, with 62 percent of hospitals planning to implement them within the next two years.
The Institute of Medicine, in 2003, advised health-care organizations to adopt information systems capable of sharing essential health information on patients and their care in order to “significantly reduce deaths and injuries caused by medical errors.”
Uniontown began implementing electronic medical records in 2002 and hired Cerner Corp., a health-care information technology system based in Kansas City, Mo. The hospital is still working to completely eliminate all paper records.
“Our goal is to eliminate this completely,” said Steven P. Handy, holding a 3-inch thick medical chart in his hand. About 85 percent of Uniontown’s patient information is available electronically, after two years of work. The information is stored in a user-friendly desktop program called PowerChart.
Handy, the senior vice president and CFO/CIO of Uniontown Hospital, said electronic medical records are more accessible than paper records.
Only one person could have access to a medical chart at a time and test/lab results were sometimes slow to obtain, Handy said. But, things have changed. Now, electronic medical records allow multiple caregivers to view them at the same time, and results are entered immediately.
For example, patients used to be asked the same question repeatedly because different departments weren’t able to share information easily. Caregivers from different departments now have access to background medical information.
A patient who enters the emergency room and is admitted to the hospital would only once have to tell nurses that he or she was allergic to penicillin. That information would pop up on the computer screen when the medical record was accessed from then on, said Rebecca Ambrosini, vice president and chief nursing officer of Uniontown Hospital. If that patient is admitted to the hospital again at a later date, caregivers would already know what medication he or she was allergic to and would only have to verify the information.
Ambrosini said PowerChart also provides caregivers with reminders and charts so that the patients’ well-being can be tracked and monitored regularly. If a patient is given pain medicine, a reminder pops up so that the nurse remembers to check on that patient a half-hour later to see if the medicine is working, Ambrosini said.
In addition to recording vital stats and sending reminders, PowerChart schedules lab work, X-rays and similar procedures so that patients are not double booked. The program also sends automatic requests for social workers, dieticians, therapists and interpreters, if needed.
After hours of workshops in which employees were taught how to use the high-tech program, nurses can be seen wheeling wireless computer workstations through the hallways of the 230-bed facility.
Information is taken and charts are updated with the click of a mouse and a few strokes on the keyboard, rather than with pen and paper. Other computer stations are built into the walls. Handy said there are more than 650 access devices throughout the hospital.