Halifax Regional Medical Center, a 204-bed hospital in Roanoke Rapids, N.C., has reported improved patient care and more efficient workflow, as well as workload reduction for nurses and a drop in EHR errors, since integrating medical devices that record patient information and store them directly in the EHR.
Before implementing these devices, Halifax Regional nurses captured vital signs and other patient information manually and entered it into the EHR bit by bit, a time consuming process that allowed for greater risk of user error.
This reduced risk of error is especially notable in areas where acuity and accuracy is crucial, such as the ICU, where information is retrieved and entered manually more often.
Clinicians at the medical center attribute the improvement to the seamless transfer of data from a patient's bedside to an EHR and have reported that the increased data-sharing capability enables them to utilize real-time access to necessary patient data from anywhere, eliminating the need to delay making important treatment-related decisions.
"We are committed to finding ways to better leverage technology so we can continuously enhance care provided to the Roanoke Valley community, and connecting medical devices with the EHR is a major step in that direction. Our nurses are ecstatic about the new data-sharing capabilities and increased efficiencies," Robert Gordon, director of information systems for Halifax Regional Medical Center, said in a statement.
The devices are made by Welch Allyn and Nihon Kohden and were assimilated into Halifax Regional Medical Center's EHR-keeping system through a partnership with Iatric Systems, a comprehensive HIT integration company.
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