McCords Hospital in KwaZulu-Natal has embarked on a technology renovation that will see the medical campus improve its ability to conduct and record clinical evaluations of patients and link this information to administrative data. The implementation has also resulted in significantly improved care-giving in the hospital`s Sinikithemba HIV Clinic.
Sinikithemba plays a vital role in the region, which has South Africa`s highest incidence of HIV/AIDS, some 10% above the national average, or between 20% and 44% across the province.
McCords` administrators wanted their technical systems to provide a full medical pathway for each patient, but were unable to obtain the flexibility and easy access to information needed from the hospital`s legacy systems. They turned to TriFour for a solution.
TriFour KZN is a company focused on developing, installing and maintaining health information systems in Africa, and part of the national TriFour Group. It has been providing IT services to healthcare organisations in KwaZulu-Natal for a decade, with McCords one of 13 hospitals it serves in the region.
TriFour introduced the hospital to TrakCare, a product from TrakHealth, an Australian developer of integrated health information systems. TrakCare is an integrated, Web-based hospital management system that can provide real-time support to caregivers without ignoring the administrative side of hospital management. TrakCare runs on CACHE, InterSystems` post-relational database, and is in use at three sites in South Africa. Some 70% of healthcare systems run on CACHE, making it the world`s leading database in this sector.
Hilton Sandberg, MD of TriFour KZN, says CACHE has a proven track record with all of TrakHealth`s applications. "It is also open, making it simple to use data from external systems in applications running on CACHE. In our experience, CACHE has also proved itself to be extremely robust and reliable in all circumstances. Most of the time one focuses on the application and forgets CACHE is even there."
"CACHE is the world`s leading database in healthcare owing to its reliability and flexibility," says Henry Adams, country manager for InterSystems SA. "In addition, the low cost of ownership of CACHE and its rapid development capabilities have made it the database of choice in many industries."
Sandberg adds: "With TrakCare we can provide a full health pathway that tracks patients from their first visit to the hospital, including all treatment, the patients` response and prescribed medication to ensure the best healthcare is provided at all times.
"TrakHealth does not develop health systems on a financial foundation; rather, its applications are centred on patients` medical records with financial reporting becoming a by-product of the system," adds Sandberg.
Clinical evaluations can now be carried out and instantly recorded for future reference at McCords. At each point of patient contact the patient`s bills are automatically updated. This is an important improvement as before accounts would be drawn up after consultation and treatment. This often led to complaints and incomplete bills when someone forgot a drug that was prescribed or a treatment that was administered.
The prevalence of AIDS in KZN has compelled McCords to look for additional ways in which it could better serve patients at the Sinikitemba HIV Clinic. The healthcare pathway TriFour installed provided the clinic with the required capabilities.
"When a patient comes into the clinic and is found to be HIV-positive, the software ensures a set process is followed to provide them with optimal services," says Sandberg. "Using TrakCare to provide these services also ensures each patient receives the same standard of service no matter when they arrive or who treats them."
Part of the service process is a standard set of questions every patient is asked, counselling services as well as the appropriate medical treatment and advice. Every time that patient comes to the clinic, the system can immediately advise what the appropriate next steps are to take to deal with him/her in the fastest, most efficient manner.
"The system can even SMS or e-mail patients reminders of appointments or the availability of new medication."
By tracking each patient in a standard manner, the clinic can gather and correlate information for further study - something not possible before. Each doctor had been reporting information as they saw it, but now each stage of the infection is monitored and analysed to determine optimal treatments.
The first phase of the implementation at McCords is now live, with additional work scheduled for later in the year. With TrakCare and CACHE, McCords can focus on important issues, sure in the knowledge that its data is being managed safely and securely.
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