Using state-of-the-art electronic reporting to ensure high standards of care and efficiency
Tallaght Hospital (AMNCH) recently won the Public Service Category in the Irish Times Inter TradeIreland Innovation Award. The award was granted for the development and implementation of a state-of-the-art electronic reporting system (TEAMS) that enables the production of electronic patient discharge summaries. This ensures high standards of care and efficiency within the Hospital.
Commenting on the award, Professor Kevin Conlon, Consultant General Surgeon at Tallaght Hospital and Chair of Surgery in TCD stated that, "The Innovation Award brings recognition at the highest level for the pioneering work taking place in Tallaght Hospital and Trinity College Dublin. As a teaching Hospital of TCD we are leaders in the field of patient safety and in delivering a more patient centred service. We have demonstrated that the TEAMS system has broad impact on improvements in patient safety and business efficiency”.
In 2004, the Hospital’s paper-based discharge summary was replaced by an electronic discharge summary describing a patient's diagnosis and procedures. While this was used throughout the hospital, it was not guaranteed to be accessible to community clinicians such as GPs and pharmacists. As the Hospital handles 25,000 in-patient discharges per year, the potential benefits of developing an electronic system were significant.
Development of the TEAMS system involved collaboration between the Schools of Medicines and Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences TCD and ERGO Software Group.
Speaking about the system, Kerry Ryder, TEAMS project manager explained that, “since its implementation in October 2010 the project has delivered significant improvements in the accuracy of information on patient medical records and brought greater efficiencies in billing and administration in the Hospital”.
This is also the first application in Ireland to provide medication reconciliation to GPs, community pharmacists and patients and gives individualised risk factor data for two major areas of public health: cardiac risk and paediatric obesity.
There are also financial benefits to the system. No other product automatically pre-fills private health insurance forms and raises invoices, which reduces turnaround.
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Laoise O’Murchú, Communications and Public Relations Manager, AMNCH: (01) 414 5918
