Home Clinical is a local clinic located in the heart of Kigali metropolitan city. It offers clinical services and general healthcare consultations to the locals. The clinic has a bed capacity of 200 patients and can accommodate up to 500 inpatient clinics in a day. The CEO, Mr. Smith and two administrative assistants, five physicians and several nurses and clinical personnel head the institution. Its services include dentistry, gynecology, obstetrics and general health care and welfare.
The clinic has been using paper based system or record keeping in its facilities. When new patient checks in, it is issued with a small card with a serial number after which all subsequent visits to any department in the clinic is referenced by a number. Consultation information and doctor’s notes are kept in a file bearing the name of the patient and the serial number. Medications accorded to the patient are all recorded in the file together with the patient history, follow ups and payment information. All the files are stored in the clinics store room. The system has helped the clinic trace patient information wherever they visit the clinic. However, it is tedious, and time consuming to locate an individual file and sometimes it may take a full day looking for a file. The problem is magnified when the patient loses the small identification card with the serial. It could also be that an incorrect order of names is entered in the daily entry form. The clinic has been forced to hire five additional personnel in the store and archiving department in order to keep up with the increasing number of patient visiting the clinic every day.
The clinic’s administration has also run into inefficiencies and financial losses in a number of times due to wrong decision making indicators. Paper-based record keeping, inventory management and human resource management has been affected because of the extended periods required to manage it. Sometimes staff works into the night in order to prepare and reconcile financial reports, inventory levels and other management parameters. The clinic has computers, but it is under-utilized and most of the operations are based on paper.
It is apparent that the introduction of technology into the clinics operations will deliver value, quality and efficiency on top financial stability. Adoption of information technology and information systems will provide physicians, patients and staff with adequate information to manage the clinic effectively. It is recommended that the organization adopts Electronic Health Records. Electronic health Records, for instance, contain patient demographics, process notes, sickness symptoms, vital signs, medications, past medical history, immunizations, lab tests and radiology reports. EHR can generate a complete record a complete record of clinical patient experience. This streamlines and automates clinical workflow, enabling evidence-based decision making, quality management and outcome reporting.
EHR system comprise of a collection of patient health information produced by one or more settings in a care facility. It combines all the data generated from different quarters to give a complete record of clinical patient encounter. It focuses on complete health of the patient by utilizing the collected data from multiple providers’ offices to build up information that can be shared with other providers. EHR facilitates secure sharing of data, which in turn promotes open communication and enhanced involvement of the patient in healthcare delivery.
The first aspect that the adoption of EHR will provide to the clinic and patients is reduction in cost of service. Staff at the clinic waste a lot of time and energy searching through paper based files. A healthcare information system for instance will provide an efficient method to man and manage patients quickly and effectively. Patient needs not to be provided with small identification cards anymore; rather, their information will be available in the clinics systems and can be accessed from whatever department. The services of record keeping and storage staff will be needed no more. This will save the clinic lots of money.
Patients will also benefit from the adoption of EHR system. Many hours are wasted on travelling and visiting the clinic. Sometimes the services sought are partially offered or not offered at all due to congestion. An information system will allow patients to book appointments and attend the clinic only when they are sure to be served. They will save on travelling costs and other related costs.
Apart from the costs, quality and value of clinical services offered will be generated. The use of clinical information systems will make it possible to quickly process inherent clinical logic. This would have taken long periods to process with paper based systems. Medical errors and prescriptions can be tracked with information systems and corrected. This is impossible with paper based systems since most of the instances prescription papers get damaged in a couple of days. Tracking the original file is cumbersome and time consuming.
Performance metrics of physicians and other personnel in the clinic can be measured by adopting information systems. Information systems provide an efficient way to gauge compliance issues, track record of physicians, and efficient resource utilization. These issues are least possible with paper based systems.
Implementation of EHR in an organization requires the services of all stakeholders. The stakeholders range from management to physicians, to support staff, to patients to other external partners such as the government and vendors. Management’s buy-in is essential for the commencement of information system adoption in Home clinic. Once the management goodwill has been safeguarded, the needs of staff, patients and physicians are analyzed. An off-the-shelf product or in-build solution is designed and implemented in the organization. Regulatory organizations and other government entities are required to ensure compliance with basic rules and guidelines. Patients and the community can also play a crucial role in the implementation of the technology. This is because they are the one who directly benefit from it. Thus, their input, opinions and concerns are highly appreciated.
References
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