New system improves efficiency and patient safety
A year after beginning the project, Atlantic General Hospital has launched
PERKS, or the Patient Electronic Record-Keeping Service. The new system,
which went live today, digitally links all documentation and physician
orders for care throughout the inpatient and outpatient units of the hospital.
So, no matter where a patient’s entry point or how many services
received, his or her caregiver has access to a full record updated in
real time.
Electronic records provide a number of benefits, including improved efficiencies
in care because the incidence of duplicated testing is reduced. Electronic
records also eliminate time lost tracking down paper records from other
departments or pulling information from disparate systems. There are substantial
patient safety benefits, such as alerts that pop up in the system to warn
of potential errors. PERKS allows for:
Electronic physician order entry. Previously, when physicians ordered testing, prescribed a medication or
outlined a treatment plan for a patient, they wrote down what was needed
and gave the information to a unit secretary, who then typed it up and
either faxed it or sent it electronically to the appropriate department
to carry out. The PERKS system streamlines the process: the physician
directly enters his or her orders from a computer tablet where the information
is captured in the electronic system. PERKS transmits the order to the
appropriate department for action. The process is streamlined, and there
is less chance of error caused by misinterpreted handwriting or transcription
inaccuracies.
Built-in clinical alerts. The clinical staff at Atlantic General worked closely with the IT staff
during the development of PERKS to ensure that appropriate alerts and
pop-ups were built into the system to warn clinicians of potential problems
with the care being administered. One prime example pertains to prescribing
medication. If a provider tries to order a medication that is on a patient’s
allergy list or that will conflict with another medication a patient is
already taking, this will prompt an alert in PERKS.
“Clinicians have always attempted to assure we never order medications
that are contraindicated by another drug or by an allergy of the patient.
With the thousands of available drugs, it is impossible to know all of
the potential contraindications. However, with PERKS’s assistance
we can process data from many sources electronically in seconds, providing
immediate notification to the physician of a potential problem before
it is ordered,” said Colleen Wareing, vice president of patient
care services at Atlantic General Hospital.
Medication barcoding. In 2008, Atlantic General instituted a barcode scanning system that allowed
the nursing staff to scan a patient’s wristband and confirm in a
computer system that they had the correct patient as well as the correct
medication orders for the patient. With PERKS, the barcoding has been
expanded to the actual vial or package of medication, which allows the
nurse to validate the correct drug, dose, route and time for administration.
The nurse now scans the barcode on the patient’s wristband and then
scans the medication the pharmacy has prepared. Any conflicts with the
five rights of medication safety – right patient, right medication,
right dosage, right time, right route – will result in an alert in PERKS.
Improved patient rounding and care coordination. With all departments connected to one system, a patient’s complete
“chart” and plan of care is available for instant review.
The interdisciplinary team, which includes the physician, nurse, pharmacist,
therapists, dieticians, chaplains, nurse case manager and other specially-trained
associates meet each morning to review inpatients’ care and plan
for the day. This team can pull up new radiology studies, lab results
and clinician notes much more quickly because there’s no lag time.
As soon as tests are completed, the results are available in PERKS. And,
the system can be accessed by the caregiver right in a patient’s
room through care.connection, the new multi-media devices that went live
earlier in January.
Atlantic General began its journey with electronic medical records in 2008,
when it installed an electronic medical record system in its Atlantic
General Health System outpatient physician practices. The organization
pushed on to install the electronic system in its Emergency Department
in 2011, and they have spent the last 12 months expanding PERKS to the
entire hospital.
“This has been a very solid implementation,” said Barbara Riddell,
Atlantic General’s vice president of information services. “I
have been through many implementations in the last 16 years and this one
has been an excellent journey, with the clinical and business team in
the hospital working closely with our vendor partners to build a system
that always puts the patient at the center. The transition has been smooth,
which was made possible only through outstanding team work.”
In 2012, these efforts allowed Atlantic General to achieve Stage 1 Meaningful
Use, a federal mandate that requires hospitals install electronic medical
records by 2014. Atlantic General Hospital is one of only two hospitals
on the Eastern Shore to reach this status. They are ahead of more than
three-quarters of U.S. hospitals in doing so, based upon a recently published
federal report.
“We are in a unique position as a community and as a hospital in
this community, because of our ability to coordinate care throughout Worcester
County and southeast Sussex County,” said Michael Franklin, president
and CEO of Atlantic General Hospital. “Through Atlantic General’s
efforts, this community will have the most advanced system of care available.”
About Atlantic General Hospital
Atlantic General Hospital has been providing quality health care to the
residents of Worcester, Wicomico, Somerset (Md.) and Sussex (Del.) Counties
since May 1993. Built by the commitment and generosity of a dedicated
community, the hospital’s state-of-the-art facility in Berlin, Md.
combines old-fashioned personal attention with the latest in technology
and services. Atlantic General Health System, its network of more than
40 primary care providers and specialists, care for residents and visitors
throughout the region. For more information about Atlantic General Hospital, visit
www.atlanticgeneral.org.