Our Latest
Stage 6 Customer: St Mary's Regional Medical Center
St. Mary's ED solution enables providers to improve care
coordination as well as the patient experience.
At
St. Mary's Regional Medical Center (Lewiston, ME), technology
makes its mark on Emergency Department patients, before they
ever set foot in the hospital. As the first facility in Maine to
post wait times on its Web site, the hospital is allowing
patients to get an up-to-the-minute estimate of the
door-to-provider time in the ED.
This wait times initiative is just one example of St. Mary's
longstanding commitment to technology, especially in the ED. And
it aptly illustrates why the hospital has recently become our
latest customer to achieve Stage 6 EMR adoption recognition from
HIMSS Analytics.
"Technology certainly is a cornerstone in our approach to
safely and effectively treating our patients," says Kim
Laberge, I.S. director at St. Mary's. "That's why we value
the integration of our MEDITECH solution, because it points all
our clinicians to one place for gathering and assessing patient
information. This, along with our efforts to make all patient
information available at the patient's bedside, was a big part
of why we received Stage 6 recognition."
ED Leading the Way in Technology Adoption
The opening of St. Mary's new Emergency Department was a sign to
many, that it was time to take their technology utilization to a
higher level. "The newly constructed ED more than doubled
the size of our existing facility," says Laberge.
"Optimizing our MEDITECH Emergency Department Solution (EDM)
was vital in improving our clinicians' ability to navigate
around a much larger space."
According to the hospital's ED charge nurse, Donna Paradis, the
ED tracker and documentation capabilities are among the most
well-touted features of their EDM solution.
"The tracker enables me to monitor the ED department as a
whole—so I can see the current status of all patients in the
ED, including any color-coded alerts to signify abnormal or
critical lab results. I can also view documentation from
attending nurses," she says. "All relevant patient
information is just a click away. I even have the ability to
launch the EMR directly from the tracker."
Nancy Pomeroy, senior clinical systems analyst, says that their
system also saves nurses considerable time. "With the
abundance of information available on the tracker, they don't
have to go chasing around the ED for the paper chart," she
says.
"We can also see that the EDM documentation feature is
helping to speed up turnaround times, by simplifying the data
capture process. Nurses can now spend more time with their
patients, as opposed to focusing all their energy on the paper
chart."
Laberge adds that the ED is also leading the way in Laboratory
and Radiology online orders. "At this time, 59% of our LAB
and RAD orders are being entered online by physicians," she
says. "Medication ordering is next, and we're getting ready
to go LIVE in the ED this April."
Technology
Improving the Patient Experience
For a hospital to achieve Stage 6, they must implement
technology that enhances the patient experience. To the delight
of their patients, St. Mary's is succeeding in this area, as
well.
"We have always intentionally selected technology that
directly benefits the patient," says Laberge. "With
the MEDITECH solution, our clinicians have established a true
partnership with I.T., as they are seeing first-hand how
technology is improving the patient experience."
Particularly well-received is the posting of ED wait times on
St. Mary's Web site. According to programmer Bernie Hall, this
is possible because St. Mary's is able to easily extract data
from their EDM solution.
"The MEDITECH solution enables users to pin-point data from
specific tables, so that it can be extracted and analyzed to
determine the wait time," he says. "From there, we've
utilized a scripting program which helps us post the most
current wait time estimate on our Web site."
In addition, patients are noticing that St. Mary's triage
process has greatly improved. "Now that we have MEDITECH
available at the bedside, nurses are treating the patient first
and triaging right at the bedside later on. We have been able to
double our co-pay collection through more accurate charge
capture," says Paradis. "But, most importantly, our
patients are feeling the difference in care. When someone enters
our ED, they know that their well-being is the number one
priority to us."
Moving Toward Meaningful Use
As St. Mary's looks forward to the future, their Stage 6
achievement reassures the hospital that they are continuing to
move in the right direction—even as ARRA deadlines loom near.
"With Meaningful Use a significant target on our minds,
Stage 6 gives us the confidence that we will be able to meet the
government's provisions, and continue to do what's best for our
community," says Laberge.