HMC’s latest initiative will see all patient records go digital
Patients’ clinical records across Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) hospitals and Primary Health Care Centres will be fully digitised by July with completion of the unique Clinical Information System (CIS), a senior official told The Peninsula.
HMC and Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) will replace its paper patient clinical records with the new electronic system.
Once CIS implementation is completed in July, every patient will have a single electronic health record, which could be accessed electronically across both organisations.
“This record includes appointment details, clinical information and observations, laboratory results, prescriptions, digital images and automation of many devices collecting information and providing back to inform clinical decision making. In addition, the CIS implementation also provides additional tools to support the management of certain conditions, such as cancer and diabetes,” Dr AbdulWahab Al Musleh, Deputy Chief Medical, Academic and Research Affairs for CIS at HMC told The Peninsula.
“It provides access to clinical records at the touch of a button, which means they (clinicians) will have a full view of their patient’s healthcare history, including previous conditions and allergies etc. This will mean they can provide the best possible treatment and advice to their patients,” he added.
CIS is already fully implemented in all eight HMC hospitals and their Home Health Care Service, as well as 19 PHCCs, and clinics and clinicians are able to view electronic health records across these facilities. Nine more Primary Health Care Centres are planning to implement the system by the end of July.
“But, just as HMC and PHCC are continuing to grow to meet the needs of the expanding population, need for the CIS implementation will continue with these development plans. The seven new hospitals HMC plans to open over the next two years will also use the same CIS system from the time they open,” said Dr Al Musleh.
Any implementation of new technology sets a challenge, as it requires training and adoption from all staff to become fully implemented.
“We’ve trained all our clinical professionals to use the new system, which was a significant piece of work, but that has been very successful. During the implementation, we knew that some processes would take longer than usual as our staff got used to using the new system.
“We made sure we informed patients in advance and were fortunate in that everyone was very patient and supportive in making each implantation a success,” said Dr Al Musleh.
Once CIS is fully implemented, Qatar will become the second country in the world to have a single, integrated Electronic Health Record for every patient. Currently Estonia has such a system.
Courtesy: thepeninsulaqatar.com
