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A trip to the emergency room, or a specialist, will feel less complicated for patients across Eastern Ontario with the introduction of a shared health records system, the Atlas Alliance.
The new system is being introduced into eight new hospitals, and Pembroke Regional Hospital president and CEO Sabine Mersmann says by leveraging a single digital health record patients will receive faster, more efficient care through a shared system.
“Right now, if patients receive care in Renfrew County and go to the Ottawa Hospital there would be different access points that people need to find some of their diagnostic imaging, lab results,” she says. “Now this will all be available in one place, on one chart, so no matter where you go all the information will be on the same record.”
Mersmann also says while the benefits to patient care will increase, so will the benefits for staff across the region.
“This reduces the duplication of testing and leads to better communication across all these systems,” she says.
According to the province, more than 300,000 frontline health-care providers have can access integrated patient care records as part of the digital health system but Mersmann says the system is still in its infancy in the Ottawa Valley and will take time before there could be any impact on wait times; however, it’s a step in the right direction.
“This is probably the largest chain management process we have undertaken at Pembroke Regional Hospital,” she says. “We’re training 1,200 staff in over 150 positions that are going from charting on paper to a paperless – computerized – system. They have to learn not only about a new system, but many new workflows and continue to look after patients.
“They also need to continue to provide the great care that we’re providing at the hospital.”
With any new programs there are bound to be “hiccups” and issues in technology as staff learn to adjust, and with several hospitals already online Mersmann says backups are in place if something happens.
“In the short term, hospitals in the new system have a ‘command centre’ in place 24 hours a day,” she says. “In the long run, there are lots of backup systems, there is a security system, and we have prepared with downtime procedures, if that ever happens.”
She believes the new system will lead to a standardization of care and will help medical staff be more efficient and mobile, allowing for a “seamless approach.”
The new hospitals joining the Atlas Alliance include Arnprior, Glengarry Memorial Hospital, Hopital Monfort, Mississippi River Health Alliance, Pembroke Regional Hospital, Queensway Carleton and The Royal.
(Justin Baumgardner)
