Westmoreland Health Services transitioning from paper to digital medical record keeping

WESTERN BUREAU:

Dr Marcia Graham, the medical officer of health at the Westmoreland Public Health Services, says work has started in the parish towards transitioning the storage of medical records from paper-based storage to a digital platform.

Graham, who was addressing last Thursday’s monthly meeting of the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation, said the plan to go fully digital is now moving at a steady pace.

“Currently, our medical records are stored in paper-based format on shelves. Some of them are on desks, others are on wooden shelves,” Graham said, in responding to a question from Michael Jackson, the People’s National Party (PNP) councillor for the Whitehouse division.

“There is a plan for us to go electronic with health records, so health centres like Darliston, Whitehouse, Negril, Grange Hill, and Savanna-la-Mar will be in the first phase. The process has already started to acquire computers for the desks,” said Graham.

Graham also noted that each healthcare worker will have a computer on their desk to upload and input the necessary data, which will ensure that the transitioning from paper to a digital-based medical records will be a seamless process.

“Some of those computers have actually been procured, and the management information system officer has informed us that, in short order, we will be getting some backup power supplies and other equipment needed to secure and protect the computer systems,” said Graham.

However, Graham said she was not yet able to reveal a timeline for the full implementation of the electronic medical record system.

CALLS FOR QUICK TRANSITION

During a recent tour of health facilities in Central Westmoreland, Dr Alfred Dawes, the opposition spokesman on health and wellness, pointed to the need to quickly transition from paper-based medical records.

“On the issue of medical records, we have to move to an electronic health records system,” said Dawes. “I know that there has been a project launched that would see the digitisation of health records, but they can’t reach here soon enough. To tell you the truth, because, when you can’t access the patient records, you will have a gap in the continuity of care because you are not sure where exactly the patient is or what happened on the last visit.”

According to Dawes, under the paper-based system, medical records are sometimes misplaced, and the doctors and nurses are not able to reference previous visits.

Two years ago, the Government launched the implementation of the country’s Electronic Health Records (EHR) System for Jamaica, a historic move in public health for the island, which is designed to operate under the philosophy, ‘one patient, one record’, a move to paperless system of recordkeeping.

The implementation of the system, whose features include a patient-registration system for appointment setting and assignment of patients in the triage process of a facility, will mean shorter wait times for patients, lower costs in providing services, increased productivity, reduced staff frustration, and increased service satisfaction levels.

Other features to make the process seamless include the interface of critical diagnostic imaging that will enable healthcare professionals to see X-rays and CT scans on computers and tablets provided within the facilities.

Albert Ferguson