Observations from ventilators used by ICU patients are now being fed directly into Central Adelaide’s electronic medical record (EMR) system, helping to ease nurses’ workload and improving data quality
Better data and better care
Prior to the integration, nurses would need to enter the majority of ventilator observations, such as respiration rate, into the record system manually.
The manual process would occupy nurse time that could otherwise be spent on other aspects of patient care.
Good decision-making by nursing and medical staff relies on accurate data, and the new automation eliminates the possibility of transcription errors associated with manual entry.
“The EMR is the ‘digital spine’ of our network. Optimising this means we can optimise the care we deliver to our community,” said Laura Messing, the CALHN Director of Digital Design and EMR Optimisation
The EMR gives treating clinicians a complete picture of each patient including linking history for diagnosis, treatment, medication ordering, and care planning.
The integration was able to occur thanks to collaboration between the CALHN EMR Optimisation team, the EMR Program and the CALHN Biomedical Engineering team.
Maximising the use of technology to drive better health outcomes is a strategic ambition for CALHN.
“The more we can automate tasks like this, the more time our hardworking nurses can spend doing what they do best: caring for their patients,” said Laura Messing.
Pictured: Tamika Watts, EMR Program ICU Business Change Consultant, and Leone Esca, TQEH ICU Clinical Nurse.
