Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster, Canada, has gone live with a new Meditech Expanse electronic health record, taking to YouTube to share details of the transformation, roll-out, and impact.
Fraser Health Authority, the British Columbian health authority incorporating Royal Columbian, said that the new EHR “allows health care staff and medical staff to access patient information anytime, anywhere, no longer having to chase paper records”, and means that providers “can now share information with patients and members of the care team in real time”.
Michelle Gramizos, executive director and CCIO, is filmed in the hospital’s Command Centre, which houses what the hospital calls “tier 2” staff, who are responsible for troubleshooting issues that arise on the hospital floor.
“We’re watching the system, capturing issues, making sure we can problem solve,” Jennifer MacGregor, VP and digital patient and provider experience at the Fraser Health Authority, said.
Gary Kainth, clinical operations manager in Royal Columbia’s emergency department, likened the go-live to “getting a new iPhone”, saying “you’re excited to find the key features of it; and I think that’s what we’re doing, is we’re trying to help each other identify and learn the key features to ensure we can disseminate the information to each other….We know that this is the future, and it’s going to help provide safer and better patient care.”
An article published to the Fraser Health website earlier this week celebrated the birth of the first baby born at Royal Columbian following the EHR launch, highlighting that the new EHR allowed the baby’s healthcare team to “instantly” update his health records, and will continue to “digitally track” milestones including growth and vaccinations.
In other EHR news from the country, Unity Health Toronto is preparing to launch its new Epic EHR, due to go live in November 2024, following “an extensive procurement process” involving more than 500 staff, clinicians, patients and stakeholders from across the organisation.
Elsewhere, EHR data is being explored in Europe through the ICUdata project, with the Catharina Hospital in The Netherlands highlighting the importance of data collaboration and “learning together”, taking the lead on organising the delivery of data across healthcare organisations utilising the HiX EHR.
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