Russells Hall Hospital’s accident and emergency unit has shifted from paper to electronic notes with the introduction of the Soarian Clinicals solution from Siemens Healthcare.
Systems staff at The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, worked with Siemens to develop the workflow efficiency tool for the casualty department, which sees 100,000 new patients every year.
Using proven LEAN techniques, the trust has redesigned its entire emergency department care processes to enable clinicians to work more effectively through improvements to patient tracking, quicker electronic referrals and test ordering for radiology and pathology.
The deployment is part of an 18-year Managed Equipment Services contract agreement with Siemens Healthcare.
Powered by a Healthcare Process Management workflow engine and knowledge management framework, together with Service Orientated Architecture, which work together to pro-actively manage and streamline processes including patient plans of care, Soarian Clinicals also includes analytical tools to enable the monitoring of performance within the department, allowing staff to identify opportunities for additional improvement.
The installation includes an electronic tracking board; a single screen sharing the status of all patients across the various sections of the department. The board allows clinicians access to a range of real-time information, including the results of X-rays, laboratory tests, triage assessments and progress through clinical tasks. The deployment also took full advantage of an upgraded wireless network infrastructure and data security improvement to provide near instantaneous access to the system via proximity cards. In addition, staff have been issued with mobile clinical tablets enabling them to view and update patient data anywhere in the department, including patient cubicles, utilising the most appropriate mobile technology to reduce delays.
Commenting on the system, Dr Rajan Paw, a consultant emergency physician and medical head of service at the hospital, said: “The installation marks a significant shift for the emergency department, as staff move away from using pen and paper to a digital solution. We are already starting to benefit from efficiencies since going live with the system, especially with regards to better patient tracking, the retrieval of information such as e-Referrals and the ability to order online radiology and pathology tests.”
Garry Marshall, IT services manager at Siemens Healthcare, added: “This is a landmark, not only for the hospital, but for Siemens too. The deployment within the busy and critical environment of the emergency department has a broader impact on the whole trust, bringing qualitative benefits to clinicians and patients. Clinical input in conjunction with an integrated clinical IT solution to manage assessments, referrals, results, discharge letters and performance data has realised the potential of IT.”