When Cowichan District Hospital (CDH) staff go live with electronic ordering on Saturday, May 3, it will mark the first community hospital in Island Health to make the full transition to advanced use of the electronic health record (EHR).
Staff and medical staff at CDH have been preparing for months for the change to computerized provider order entry (CPOE), and elements of the closed loop medication system including administering medications safely through the use of bar coding and electronic medication administration records. Staff are also adopting CareAware Capacity Management (CCM), the electronic system for managing patient and equipment flow that works with other Cerner applications and FetaLink.
“This is a transformational change for our team at CDH, who have worked incredibly hard to complete their education and training to prepare," said Emma James Executive Director, clinical service delivery CLHA 5&7. “Throughout the learning journey, the teams have stayed focused on how this will benefit our patients, making a positive impact on the quality, safety and consistency of care."
Part and parcel of that commitment has been the recent adoption of care planning practices – with impressive results even before the site goes live.
“It's impressive to see the staff completing the care planning tools ahead of the actual date for activation including admission and discharge, pre-hospital functional screening and CAM screening for delirium care," said David Huntley, Clinical Director CDH, “Adopting these practices prior to Go-Live demonstrates the staff's continual desire to drive innovation and improve accuracy and communication with electronic systems and tools."
CDH will be supported by many Island Health staff coming from sites that have already made the transition to CPOE – including Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, Royal Jubilee Hospital and Victoria General Hospital. When staff at CDH get the green light early Saturday morning to begin using the new electronic workflows, they will have the extra confidence boost of 'at-the-elbow' support from colleagues with deep knowledge and experience with the EHR.
“I am very grateful to our local physicians who have engaged with training to an exceptional degree in preparation for this change," said Dr. Graham Blackburn, CDH Medical Director and Chief of Staff. “We have significant support from physicians at other sites, as well as specialty medical residents joining us from Victoria and Vancouver. Our local legend, Dr Willie Pewarchuk, has been guiding us steadily along the path to CPOE Go-Live."
“I am very proud of the CDH medical staff team for their hard work and professionalism as we have prepared for CPOE," said Kelsey Kozoriz, Executive Medical Director, PHV Primary Care Medical Admin. “Like any change, this transition may come with some challenges however the teams have a shared commitment and purpose to ensure patient safety and quality is inherent in all that we do."
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