Collaboration Between I.T. Staff and Clinicians Leads Mount Nittany to Stage 6
(2/15/2011)

As a MEDITECH customer for nearly 15 years, Mount Nittany Medical Center (State College, PA) is no stranger to using technology to improve health care delivery. The hospital's long-term dedication to I.T. excellence was recently rewarded with Stage 6 EMR Adoption recognition--an important milestone in their organization-wide effort to bring clinicians and I.T. staff together, to positively impact patient care.

"We have always kept our focus on quality, and the our recent Stage 6 achievement signifies our commitment to keeping patient safety the top priority," says Ken Bixel, Mount Nittany's vice president and CIO. "A big part of our strategy involves our MEDITECH solution--which plays a key role in enabling our clinical teams to better coordinate care across the hospital."

According to Joyce Walls, director of information services at Mount Nittany, the organization's Emergency Department, pediatricians and hospitalists are leading the way in the adoption of information technology. "Our Emergency Department is fully automated, and our hospitalists are on board with using MEDITECH's Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) solution to manage and track orders," she says. "Both the hospitalists and pediatricians are using physician documentation for their charting."

Bixel believes that Mount Nittany's continuing success with I.T. has largely come about through the strong relationship between the hospital's I.T. and clinical staff. "Rolling out I.T. across our hospital has required the support and dedication of both groups," he says.

"We rely on physician input to help increase support among the clinicians, to help them understand that technology is not just a temporary project, but an ongoing priority that is pertinent and beneficial to all of us who work here. The I.T. department helps to implement the technology and provide guidance, but the key is to have clinicians on board to help foster the buy-in."

Executive level support has also been a key factor, as Mount Nittany continues to build on its MEDITECH solution. "Our newly-hired CMIO, Stephen Tingley, MD, is very instrumental in expanding our physician-level support of technology, and closing the knowledge gap between physicians and I.T. staff," says Walls. She adds that, in the coming months, Dr. Tingley will also play a significant role in expanding Mount Nittany's CPOE adoption rate, as well as implementing physician documentation hospital-wide.

"It is the best of both worlds when you have executives, clinicians, and I.T. staff working closely together to improve quality and care efficiencies," states Walls. "Collectively, we have stayed focused on integrating our technologies with our care processes. By reaching Stage 6, we can see we're going in the right direction, putting ourselves in a good position to meet whatever challenges the future of health care brings."

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