Norton
Facility Finds MEDITECH Perfectly Complements its State-of-the-Art
Approach to Patient Care
(3/10/2010)
An open, airy design using abundant
natural light; an earth-tone color scheme; wood accents; and
numerous windows overlooking gardens. This may not sound like
a typical hospital environment, but it's an integral part of
Norton Healthcare's modern approach to promoting wellness,
showcased at its new facility, Norton Brownsboro Hospital.
But this site doesn't just serve the aesthetic needs of today's
discerning patients; in addition to its enhanced
environmental and health principles that follow the Green
Guide for Health Care, Norton Brownsboro is also leading the
way with cutting-edge medical equipment and patient safety
tools—including MEDITECH's integrated HCIS.
"Before Norton Brownsboro opened its doors last August,
we made the decision to provide our care teams with the most
advanced technologies to complement our state-of-the-art
facility," says Joe DeVenuto, chief information officer
at Norton Healthcare. "Now, by leveraging our MEDITECH
solution, our clinicians are able to meet the highest
standards in care delivery."
Mandate Helps
Get CPOE off the Ground
Selecting to roll-out MEDITECH using a "big bang"
approach, a large part of Norton Brownsboro's implementation
strategy involved quickly and effectively getting its
Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) solution off the
ground. And according to Steve Heilman, MD, chief medical
information officer, mandating CPOE for all physicians was a
key component.
"Because we were in a unique situation of rolling out
CPOE to a new facility—which included 50 percent new
staff and 50 percent existing staff from other Norton
facilities—we had more flexibility in establishing
expectations for CPOE utilization," he says.
"Understanding that the introduction of CPOE is a
culture shock for many physicians, our mission was to work
very closely with them to pre-determine order sets which
would best match their workflows. This really helped to ease
the transition for them. And about 6-8 weeks after rolling
out CPOE, our physicians really started to express their
excitement about the best practices."
Norton Brownsboro's successful CPOE roll-out has led to about
90 percent CPOE compliance in the Emergency Department, which
DeVenuto believes was the result of excellent communication
of CPOE's key selling points. "Dr. Heilman has
effectively shown our clinicians how technology—and
specifically, decision support capabilities—can improve
patient outcomes," he says. "That's made a big
difference in convincing our physicians to adapt to the
change."
DeVenuto also notes the importance of other staff members in
ensuring the eventual success of CPOE. "Our pharmacists,
in particular, are a great resource for helping to resolve
issues. They've been instrumental in identifying how we can
create efficiencies in our medication reconciliation
workflows," he says."Cross-educating all of our
physicians, nurses, and pharmacists has helped to communicate
that CPOE is not just a physician project—it truly
affects all of our clinicians."
Advanced
Clinicals Support Nurses' Daily Tasks
One group which has been very vocal in its support for Norton
Brownsboro's MEDITECH system is its nurses, particularly
those working in the Emergency Department. Working in such a
fast-paced environment, the Advanced Clinicals have provided
them with a safety net, to ensure top-notch patient care
which is virtually error-free.
"Using the Nursing Status Board, our nurses are provided
with a snapshot of what had been done previously with their
patients, and what the logical next steps are in the care
process," explains Judy Holcomb, RN, associate vice
president of patient services. "Since going LIVE, we
have also streamlined the ED triage process, resulting in
reduced patient turnaround times."
Nurses are also raving about MEDITECH's monitor interface
capabilities. "Using the monitor interface, the system
automatically captures patients' vital sign data from the
patient monitor," says Holcomb. "Our nurses are
thrilled about the benefits—it actually eliminates the
possibility of transcription errors, and saves our nurses
considerable time, previously spent on manual data entry."
While no longer entering vitals by hand, Norton Brownsboro's
clinicians are still keeping information at their fingertips
with a wide range of sophisticated mobile devices, designed
especially for care delivery at the patient's bedside. "We
are using handheld devices with our Bedside Verification (BV)
solution, as well as tablets and laptops to share lab and x-ray
results with patients," says Holcomb. "The
flexibility of the MEDITECH system has given us some great
opportunities for more face-time with the people we serve."
An
Inspiration to Its Contemporaries
Just as modernism dictates that form follows function, Norton
Healthcare is also finding that success follows success. As
of this writing, several other facilities in the Norton
Healthcare system are looking to Norton Brownsboro as a model
for taking contemporary health care to the next level.
"Two of our other hospitals—Norton Audubon Hospital
and Norton Suburban Hospital—are now using Norton
Brownsboro's implementation plan as a guide to roll-out
Nursing documentation in the Emergency Department. In
addition, our pediatric outpatient facility is already well
underway with its MEDITECH implementation," says
DeVenuto. "It's very gratifying to know that, with our
modernized approach to medicine, we're leading the way toward
what I see as a new standard for the industry."
MEDITECH
Medical
Information Technology, Inc.
MEDITECH Circle
Westwood, MA 02090
781-821-3000
www.meditech.com