Plugged In: Health Records In Area Facilities Go Digital

Avera Facilities Convert Records For Easier Access

By Loretta Sorensen, P&D Correspondent
Published: Sunday, July 20, 2008 11:00 PM CDT

Patients at Yankton’s Avera Sacred Heart Hospital shouldn’t be surprised to see their nurses documenting patient information on tablets — tablet PC’s, that is. The hardware is one of the new technological tools that nurses, doctors and all ASHH staff are using since they made their final conversion to the use of electronic medical records (EMR) on July 1. Avera St. Anthony’s Hospital in O’Neill, St. Michael’s Hospital Avera Health in Tyndall and Wagner Community Memorial Avera Health were also brought onto the same EMR system with the conversion. In addition to the Avera Sacred Heart region, the shared EMR includes other facilities in the Avera McKennan, Avera St. Luke’s, and Avera Queen of Peace regions. What it means for patients is enhanced health care because physicians, nurses and other health care professionals can now go online to instantly see medical records of patients at any of the facilities. Electronic access to records within health organizations similar to Avera is rare, and Kathy Quinlivan, ASHH director of Information Services, said the organization is very pleased with the achievement. The process to make medical records at four Avera Health hospitals, two long-term care facilities and one assisted living facility has been carefully and strategically developed over a 10-year period.

Dr. Mary Lee Villanueva (left) consults with Dr. Lisa Miller, one of several Avera Regional Medical Information Officers, about the use of the C5 electronic documentation pads that Avera medical staff now use to record patient information. (Photo: Loretta Sorensen)

“Doctors can access patient records within the Avera Sacred Heart system that were documented over the last nine years and now that information is also available to medical professionals at other Avera facilities,” she said. “If there are X-rays in a file, the doctor will be able to see a digital image of the X-ray and they can look at any lab test information. What it means for patients is that doctors will have more immediate access to health information and more quickly analyze trends in a patient’s health. It could also mean that doctors could avoid repeating a lab test if they need immediate information about a patient because they’ll be able to find the information on any computer in the hospital.

“There are a lot of benefits to making the records so accessible. We’re not the only organization in the United States that converted to this, but to have it in a rural community and link all these facilities together is pretty unique.”

Potential for errors is reduced and accurate information about a patient’s condition is accessible to doctors in their office, clinic, at the patient’s bedside or even in an operating room. Bedside documentation is also immediately available to physicians without their physical presence in the hospital.

“If a doctor is closely watching a patient or concerned about a specific condition, they can review a patient’s vital statistics and status in between patients at their clinic,” Quinlivan said.

General surgery physician Dr. Lisa Miller has served as one of several Regional Medical Information Officers within the Avera system. She has acted as a liaison between the medical staff and information services throughout the conversion process.

“This is a tremendous project,” Dr. Miller said. “Having access to patient records at all these facilities is obviously very valuable. Having all kinds of information available, such as biopsies or documentation from a patient’s most recent visit, especially if someone comes into the hospital in an unresponsive state, will all provide doctors with a comprehensive patient history.”

The practice of faxing patient records from one facility to another will no longer be necessary as physicians have complete records at their fingertips. 

“When you fax information, you never send the entire record,” Quinlivan said. “But physicians will be able to see anything they want to in records now. We’ve already seen examples of patients who were referred to specialists who benefited from the fact that the doctors could review all their records online.”

While the EMR project has been ambitious and kept information services staff on a rotating 24-hour schedule for a time, Avera is still working on a larger piece of the EMR, which will make clinic records available to physicians and medical staff.

“We have four clinics in our pilot project,” Quinlivan said. “We expect to bring them into the system in spring 2009. The opportunity to put medical records into the system will be available to any clinic in South Dakota, not just Avera facilities. We know the benefit of integrating the information and making it easy to share medical records. It takes a lot of groundwork, but the federal government is pushing for this kind of system, too, so we know it’s just a matter of time before medical facilities start using an electronic system.”