Caring People and Responsive Programs page 3

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Backus Hospital continues to make progress toward a paperless medical record.

Hospitalist Austin Tagbo, MD, enters physician orders while in the Critical Care Unit, as part of Backus Hospital’s pilot program to achieve paperless medical records.

Our advances in computer technology put us at the leading edge of hospitals nationwide.

We have made technology a partner in improving patient safety and efficiency in many ways:

  • Paper documents can now be scanned into the electronic medical record, so they are available within the Meditech system, a hospital-wide computerized information system where patient records now exist.
  • Our Electronic Medication Administration Record makes patient medication information readily available in real-time to clinicians and physicians.
  • Operating Room Management software automates surgical case scheduling, inventory management, charting and case cart preparation, as well as the required surgical case documentation done during and after a procedure.
  • PACSGear allows any paper documentation that is related to a diagnostic imaging study to be scanned into our Picture Archiving Communications System (PACS), which already stores pictures that were formerly on film.
  • Physician remote access gives our Medical Staff secure access to appropriate medical records at any time, wherever the doctors are, as long as they have Internet availability.
  • Computerized physician order entry — a patient safety initiative that has gained national attention — is being piloted in our Critical Care Unit, in which our Hospitalist physicians are entering their orders electronically.

Satisfied patients are not only happier, they are healthier, studies show.

Volunteer and Patient Representative Anne Lopresti visits with a young patient and his mother, providing an added measure of comfort as well as addressing special needs.

That's why our Hospital began a Patient Representative Program, under the direction of our Volunteer Services Department. A patient representative visits patients within 24 to 48 hours of admission, asks them whether they have any special needs, questions or concerns, and forwards issues that can't be addressed immediately to the appropriate staff. This helps patients feel welcome and more at ease.

Backus is also test-piloting a draft of a proposed nationwide patient satisfaction survey. The Hospital- Consumer Assessment of Health Providers and Systems survey is a national questionnaire that attempts to measure inpatients' perception of the care they received. Rather than wait for the survey to gain final federal approval, Backus Hospital is providing the survey to patients today. This, combined with ongoing patient satisfaction measurements, helps guide us in making continual improvements.

The Backus Center for Healthcare Integration (CHI) is another innovative program that puts patients first. During this past year, CHI moved into its own building on Lafayette Street across the street from the Hospital. Because of growing community interest in complementary therapies such as massage, energy therapy and Reiki, CHI offers these programs to patients, and in some cases, the public at large.