Clínica Las Condes has become the first hospital in Latin America to achieve Stage 6 on the HIMSS Analytics Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM), the seven-stage model developed by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) to evaluate the development level of health care information technology projects. Only about 8.5 percent of American hospitals have qualified for HIMSS Analytics Stage 6.
“This certification is the result of a very long process started by the organization almost ten years ago, setting as a priority the use of information technology to provide the best care for our patients,” said Dr. José Miguel Selman, medical director of clinical information systems, Clínica Las Condes. “In other words, the patient benefits directly, as the physician has a comprehensive view of the medical record thanks to the integration of all the systems. This way, the different specialties can be interconnected and have a holistic view of the patient’s health.”
The use of electronic medical records (EMRs) has been increasing worldwide. The complexity of hospitals in relation to the high level of information available for each patient has made it necessary to interconnect their information systems in order to provide the right information to the right person at the right time to improve care. In Chile, Clínica Las Condes has emerged as a leader in implementing this technology, a status the Stage 6 recognition confirms.
“Although many hospitals in Chile have made efforts to implement EMR systems, the difference resides in the integration and management of intelligent information which allows making informed clinical decisions at all times,” said Helen Sotomayor, information technology manager, Clínica Las Condes.
Clínica Las Condes’ Cerner Millennium® EMR system is the only one in Latin America capable of documenting each person’s care encounters, while also associating with the person all sorts of screenings, surgical procedures, medications, discharges, outpatient visits and images. In addition, all these data are available at any point of the hospital. This provides specialists with the ability to review the person’s comprehensive clinical information at their home or practice, including allergy alerts, medication contraindications, radiology images and results curves from previous exams.’This integration is not achieved by IT professionals but by a multidisciplinary team formed by physicians, engineers, pharmaceutical chemists, and nurses, among others. Working together, they can interpret and standardize the requirements of the different specialties,” said Sotomayor.
As patient safety is a priority in the management of care at Clínica Las Condes, the hospital developed a specialized nursing care plan within the Cerner Millennium system based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and North American Nursing Diagnosis Association diagnoses. This way, after identifying the patient’s problems, care is provided and assessed in a rational, logical and systematic way. This has helped Clínica Las Condes reduce the potential risk of adverse events, increasing the quality of care and patient safety.
“HIMSS Analytics Stage 6 recognition is a significant achievement for any facility, before considering that Clínica Las Condes is the first facility in Chile to receive this honor,” said Marcos García, vice president and general manager, Cerner Latin America. “The technology in use at Clínica Las Condes makes possible the clinical transformation and the re-use of information to provide transversality and continuity to care processes. From the care point of view, the information is easily shared via standard protocols with other authorized entities.”
