As part of the 8th HIBA Academic Congress 2013, Doctor Daniel Luna, head of the Health IT Department at the Hospital Italiano, moderated the panel “Experiences in Informatization”.
Focusing on exposing and analyzing the achievements and challenges of the implementation of IT in the health sector, the meeting featured the participation of Dr. Ana Barbiel, coordinator of the FEMI Digital Health Project; Dr. Nicolás Passadore, Head of the Computing Department at CMIC Neuquén; Engineer Gustavo Carolo, Manager of the Garrahan Hospital; Doctor Juan Carlos Bacigalupo, Director of the ProyectoMauricio; and Doctor Hernán Navas, Head of Health IT at the Sanatorio Finochietto.
FEMI Digital Health Project
Ana Barbiel spoke about her work integrating the electronic health record in two public hospitals and explained that the initiative, known as the FEMI Digital Health Project, occurred as part of the reform of the Healthcare System in Uruguay.
She also noted that digitalization – driven by the Medical Federation of the Interior (FEMI) – was possible thanks to the support of the Interamerican Development Bank and the national government. She announced: “By mid-2015, Uruguay will have 67% of its population on electronic health records”.
The goals pursued by the FEMI Digital Health Project, designed to incorporate ICTs into the Uruguayan Healthcare Service are: transparency and quality of care for the user, security and legal support for professionals and healthcare teams and efficiency and efficacy in Organizational and Clinical Administration.
“The areas of development are the electronic health record, an integrated control panel and telemedicine”, said Barbiel.
AVICENNA Project
To improve the quality of care through ICTs, the Neuquén clinic CMIC has been working on its own project. According to Nicolás Passadore, the AVICENNA Project arose as part of efforts to improve the quality of care for patients.
“A made to measure system was the best strategy for CMIC because we had to get the entire organization involved and implemented it by module to gradually equip ourselves with the necessary hardware and thus evaluate the impact of user adaptation”, he said.
He also shared some of the projects that they seek to implement in the future: medication traceability, identification of people and pharmacists, support systems for decision making, integration with services – CAT scans, mammograms and MRI scans – and the digital signature.
Informatics Project at the Hospital Garrahan: Triage and Pre-surgery
“During 2013, over a thousand doctors at the Garrahan loaded health records onto the network”, said Gustavo Carolo. He then stated that this has been a successful year for the hospital: “We have set up the NAT, PACS/RIS projects and Electronic Health Records in the Admissions and Outpatients Departments”.
He also announced that next year the focus would be on the nursing department, and the intensive care and neonatal units. “We are seeking to incorporate medical instructions (doctor upload and validation with associated alarms)”, he concluded.
He also emphasized the advances at the Children’s Hospital with regard to Telemedicine as it avoids unnecessary journeys and makes it possible to extend treatments and pediatric consults to different regions of the country.
Mauricio Proyect
A result of an alliance between four private institutions in Uruguay, Mauricio Proyect uses the model of the electronic health record at the Hospital Italiano in Buenos Aires.
Juan Carlos Bacigalupo said that during the EHR adaptation process they had learned a lot about administration and mentioned the need to train healthcare professionals in the discipline. Just the same, he emphasized the importance of developing interoperable healthcare systems. “At the most basic level, they must speak the same language”, he said.
The Doctor estimated that Mauricio Proyect would be implemented in May 2014.
The digitalization project at Sanatorio Finochietto
Hand washing among healthcare professionals is a constant preoccupation, so the Argentine sanatorium has decided to track the habit to improve patient protection. For similar reasons, the institution has also introduced bracelets with QR codes for the taking of samples, tests and medication.
After speaking about the increased use of digital technology at the establishment – focused on integral care for the patient – Hernán Navas commented that the sanatorium is eco-sustainable and intelligent as, to optimize the efficiency of the processes, it has implemented online recording on the EHR of parameters sent by medical and prep equipment and informatized supply of medications.
