Milton
Hospital Celebrates 25 MAGICal Years with MEDITECH
(8/19/2009)
Odds are, you probably don't recall
what you were doing on May 23rd, 1984—but it was a
momentous occasion for the staff at Milton Hospital (Milton,
MA). That was the first day of LIVE operation for the
facility's MAGIC and MIS software. Who knew that 25 years
later, the system would not only be thriving, but expanding,
as leaders are now adding the Advanced Clinical System (ACS)
applications to its already reliable platform.
As a customer
which faithfully keeps up with annual upgrades, Milton
attributes much of its past and present success to the
seamless communication between the I.T. staff and the
clinical departments, plus a highly energized and extremely
motivated I.T. staff of eight.
"Our motto has always been, simply, 'Get it done.' And
we're able to do just that with our goal-oriented I.T. staff,"
says CIO Jean Fernandez. "The consistency and stability
of MAGIC, coupled with the lack of multiple interfaces,
enables this small team to work efficiently and accomplish
all of our objectives."
President and
CEO Joseph Morrissey adds that as a small hospital, Milton
has always depended upon its technologies to deliver the
highest quality care. "We always need to do more with
less people on staff. As a result, we rely on the increases
in productivity we get from our deployed technologies,"
he says. "Clearly, the MEDITECH system has been a great
investment for us over the years."
MEDITECH President and COO Howard Messing also sees Milton's
longstanding success as an example of the versatility and
viability of the MAGIC applications. "We're certainly
proud of what Milton has achieved with our MAGIC platform,"
he says. "We will continue to support them in their
ongoing implementations and upgrades, as well as in their
long-term quality goals."
Technology
that Stands the Test of Time
As veteran users of MEDITECH's Order Entry functionality, the
staff at Milton has plenty of good things to say about its
ease-of-use, added convenience, and saved documenting time.
"The days of handwriting order slips and waiting four
hours for a lab result are long gone," says Lynn Cronin,
RN, director of operations. "The process of filing a lab
result in the paper chart went out in the 80s, which means we
never have to worry about a missing order slip or the lack of
a trail for those orders."
Milton just recently stopped printing off labs on the floors
without warning to the medical staff, and no one even missed
it, says Cronin. "When I asked a physician about it, he
said, 'I haven't looked at a paper lab in over two years.' So
I think getting rid of paper was definitely the right move
for us."
In addition,
Milton's Director of Radiology, Mike Downing, believes
MEDITECH's Imaging and Therapeutic Services (ITS) application
has made his group's job much simpler and more efficient.
"The Diagnostic Imaging Desktop is set up perfectly for
us. It's been a great tool for our users," he says.
"We have access to everything we need without having to
backtrack to a main page. Also, the categories are well
organized, and that makes information searches much easier."
Bedside Verification (BV) is another recent addition to
Milton's I.T. system, which has helped to improve the
accuracy and accessibility of clinical documentation at the
hospital. Using BV, nurses can document at the patient's
bedside and ensure that critical patient information is
viewable immediately in the electronic record. The
organization has also taken care to inform patients of BV's
important safety benefits.
"When we went LIVE with BV, we placed posters in patient
rooms, explaining the measures and benefits of this new
technology," says Cronin. "As a result, our
patients know and appreciate the fact that BV provides an
additional layer of safety for them, verifying that they are
always receiving the right medication at the right time."
Advancing
Years Bring the Advanced Clinicals
As patient care has become considerably more complex in the
years since their initial implementation, Milton has been
very proactive in adopting MEDITECH's Advanced Clinicals as
part of its overall I.T. strategy. The organization has just
begun the implementation of Physician Care Manager (PCM),
with dictionary training taking place at MEDITECH.
"We are focusing on Provider Order Management (POM), Ambulatory Order Management (AOM), and the Physician Desktop during the first phase of our implementation," says Andrea Connors, applications manager. "Different approaches work for different facilities. Based on our size and project resources, we have found the step-by-step approach works best for us, rather than a big bang implementation."
Cronin believes
that keeping I.T. staff and clinicians working closely
together has been instrumental in keeping the project on
track. "We go back and forth a lot, and the nursing
staff has never been afraid to ask questions or even inquire
about functionality changes," she says. "Our system
is constantly evolving and being updated, so it can work more
fluidly with our workflow processes."
An example of Milton's open communication strategies: after
going LIVE with Emergency Department Management (EDM) in May
of 2008, an ED task force was created in order to give staff
members an outlet for presenting questions and update
requests. "I've done a lot of work streamlining ordering
processes for the physicians, and it's been very successful,"
says Connors. "The key is quickly reacting to whatever
changes they need, so it's a smoother process for them."
Milton's
Nursing Education Group also plays a big part in making sure
that clinicians are using the system to its fullest potential.
"Our Nursing Education Group helps our nurses remain
comfortable with the HCIS, and familiar with all of the
functionalities available to them," says Connors. "Clinical
knowledge is what sets this group apart, and makes them the
right trainers for these users. When a nurse asks how to
document something specifically, an I.T. staff member might
be able to think of five different ways to do the task.
However, another nurse will know what is clinically relevant,
and will be be able to document it appropriately, according
to the situation. That's why it's so important for nurses to
be training other nurses."
Well
Prepared for ARRA and the Future
With the implementation of MEDITECH's ACS well underway,
Milton finds itself on the road to receiving stimulus funding
from the government through the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009.
"We've been keeping a close eye on the definition of 'meaningful
use', and our compliance strategy has been discussed several
times at our I.T. steering committee meetings," says
Fernandez. "We have all the building blocks in place,
and I know we'll be able to 'get it done' when the criteria
is finalized. We just began dictionary training for our PCM
install, which will put us in line with the 2011 criteria.
MEDITECH is a great partner to have when preparing for ARRA,
since we know we'll be able to achieve the integration we
need."
With two-and-a-half 'MAGICal' decades behind them, leaders at
Milton continue to see a bright future ahead with MEDITECH.
"We've developed a very strong partnership over the
years and I feel both sides are still 100% committed,"
says Morrissey. "We are certainly looking forward to the
next 25 years being just as successful."
Milton
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MEDITECH
Medical
Information Technology, Inc.
MEDITECH Circle
Westwood, MA 02090
781-821-3000
www.meditech.com