Global healthcare is rapidly moving towards the use of electronic patient records and technology to support nurses and doctors in performing their jobs.
According to Keith Bonsall, GM of the Hillcrest Private Hospital in KwaZulu-Natal, healthcare is all about data, and data is best managed electronically.
“South African hospitals, both private and state, need to be bold enough to have a positive strategy for implementing bedside technology,” he says. However, Bonsall points out that the costs involved are usually a serious issue.
“The cost of technology implementation, hardware, software, and support is very high for most hospitals in SA.” Upfront costs and post-implementation support of technology are also very high, and changing or integrating new systems with legacy systems is costly as well, he notes.
Furthermore, the management of change, especially when it comes to nurses, doctors, and other stakeholders, requires money as well, says Bonsall.
A hospital should also consider the degree of in-house support versus the outsourcing, cost and resource implications when adopting technologies, he advises.
Agents of change
Bonsall says the shift to accepting IT in hospitals is driven by nursing resource shortages, which cause concerns over quality of service. Information technology also helps nurses in reducing non-nursing activities, so they can focus on their primary task at work.
“The need to manage potential patient care risks and incidents more effectively is very important when a health facility is looking at error reduction,” he points out. There is a need for consistency and a 'least people interventional' approach to clinical monitoring, so risk can be managed, he explains.
Another driver of change, spurring the adoption of electronic patient records in hospitals, is the demand for accurate and timely clinical information by both doctors and nurses, he adds.
In a hospital, the ideal system is one which is integrated, notes Bonsall. “When all systems are fully integrated they all talk to each other.” This helps facilitate immediate and accurate access to patient data - doctor diagnosis, response to changes in patient condition, treatment plan, drug scripting, and Web access.
“When systems are integrated, the billing system is usually up to date. Inventory management like usage reports, stock control, and procurement quantities will also be up to date,” he says.
“When nurses are focused on the patient and are kept away from form-filling and other non-nursing duties through a comprehensive electronic patient record, efficiency will be visible.”
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