Technology can be incorporated into healthcare to improve patient care and the principle has been applied by Mount Sinai Health System, an institution that consists of a medical school, seven research institutes, seven hospitals, and an ambulatory network.
CIO Kumar Chatani points out that Mount Sinai has successfully migrated all its sites to one electronic medical record platform. Its Electronic Health Record (EHR) system is connected through both internal and external health information exchanges and currently, it is in the process of creating an enterprise master person index that would provide a unique patient identifier across the health system.
Four tools and technologies that Mount Sinai has applied to improve its health system include:
- The Triage Screening Sepsis – an alert system based on an algorithm that evaluates eight criteria of sepsis infection. The system alerts clinicians when to initiate early, aggressive sepsis care.
- Vaccination compliance – monitors and tracks vaccination in the EHR. It includes reminders every 24 hours and the discharge process is not considered complete until vaccinations are given.
- List of Patients Meeting Particular Criteria – a feature that allows clinicians to generate lists of patients meeting particular criteria. This is a useful tool that enables doctors and care managers to coordinate care for patients accordingly.
- Track board – a platform for patients with pending radiology studies. This tool can be used to monitor geriatric patients at risk of falling or becoming delirious.
Mount Sinai has also implemented pilot programs using telemedicine to cut hospitalisations and hospital stays. It uses an app from its AppLab that allows physicians to keep finger on the pulse of each patient suffering from inflammatory bowel disease, and also work towards helping patients deal with psychosocial symptoms that may have an impact on their quality of life.
Source: Healthcare IT News
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons
