July 20, 2007

Patient charts to get a system upgrade

Patient assessments, flowsheets and progress notes are the written components of a patient’s medical record. However, the typical system for organizing inpatient information — the green book and the gray book — has several drawbacks: valuable time is spent locating and comparing these charts, information can be accessed by
only one person at a time and the process can be slow for those unfamiliar with the format.

The Acute Care Documentation Project is an MGH and BWH initiative that will automate inpatient documentation — such as flowsheets, notes, assessments and plans of care — through a new electronic system to improve safety, efficiency and accuracy of interdisciplinary documentation.

The Acute Care Documentation Working Group has been meeting since February to evaluate and select an appropriate vendor to implement the new system. An informal vendor demonstration and question and answer session will be held Aug. 1 in the Haber Conference Room on Blake 1. MGH employees are invited to visit any time between 10 am and 8 pm. More information will be available through posters and e-mail in the coming weeks.

The team members for this project are Debbie Adair, director of Health Information Services; James McFarland, MD, cardiologist; Sally Millar, RN, director of Patient Care Services Information Systems; and Michele Cullen, RN, project manager.