Reduced Waiting Time at the May Pen Hospital Following Implementation of EHR System

The waiting time for patients at the May Pen Hospital in Clarendon has decreased significantly since the implementation of the multibillion-dollar Electronic Health Records (EHR) System, four months ago at the facility.

The EHR system is being implemented as part of the Health Systems Strengthening Programme, for which Jamaica has received a loan of US$50 million from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

A portion of that sum has been applied to the acquisition of the EHR System.

It has core components of the modern practice of healthcare delivery.

It will be implemented at several hospitals and health centres, and among other things, allow healthcare providers access to review a patient’s full medical history via a database, whether at a health centre or hospital.

Chief Executive Officer at the May Pen Hospital, Eugena Clarke-James says the institution is seeing the benefits in patients’ registration efficiency.

“Since the implementation, we are able to see where patients don’t have to be waiting for extended periods of time for their physical records, as they did over the years when the information had to be retrieved from the medical record filing room, while patients wait to see the doctors,” she explains.

Mrs. Clarke-James tells JIS News that information for all clients is now available to the doctors in real-time, on computer screens.

“It is a dynamic system that we continue to encourage, and the ultimate result is our health sector is being significantly improved,” she shares.

Noting that the medical team at the hospital is excited with the development, the CEO says the end users, the patients, have provided feedback that they do not want to go back to the old system.

“We continue to improve and what we are looking at is that integration of our public health facilities between hospitals and health centres,” she states.

The 26-year veteran health care administrator notes that when the system rolls out across the island, a patient can go to any public facility and receive continued care and management as their record is available on the EHR system.

“The clinicians or the healthcare providers will be able to see the history, and that will add to efficiency. The electronic health record is one of the best systems that has come to Jamaica, it is a paradigm shift, and we support it,” Mrs. Clarke-James tells JIS News.

The new system has ensured the paperless structure for patient records with real-time access to medical information.

It will allow for the smooth upload and sharing of these records among healthcare professionals by way of electronic devices.

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; less cost in providing services; increased productivity; reduced staff frustration; and increased service satisfaction levels.

Other features that help to make that possible include a seamless interface of critical diagnostic imaging that enable health care professionals to see x-rays and CT scans on computers and tablets provided within the facilities.

Twelve other facilities are set to benefit from the initial rollout, Spanish Town Hospital, St. Ann’s Bay Hospital, May Pen West Health Centre, Chapelton Community Hospital, May Pen East Health Centre, Mocho Health Centre, Greater Portmore Health Centre, St. Jago Park Health Centre, and Old Harbour Health Centre.

The May Pen Hospital falls under the Southern Regional Health Authority (SRHA), and Chairman of the region, Wayne Chen says the implementation of the system is a “celebration of greatness, and it is a system that has been long recognised as needed”.

“We are receptive to the innovation and the mindset to receive and use new tools, is critical. We are talking with our people, coaching, and encouraging them to use to use it,” the Chairman points out.

The system, which turns on the philosophy of ‘one patient, one record’, sees the transition to a paperless system for patient records and the upload and sharing of these records among healthcare providers for the seamless and collaborative delivery of care.

For Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, the system is transformational, and represents a major change in how patients are treated.

He says the system can facilitate an early diagnosis of an illness, by transiting the information needed, and giving the patients the “reassurance that we know what is wrong with them, and we can prescribe an approach to solution, to solve their problem”.

Speaking at the launch recently at the hospital, Dr. Tufton says it is an important development for the people of Jamaica, and forms part of the Government’s mission to improve healthcare delivery.

“It is an important milestone, because it delivers equitable healthcare for the people of Jamaica and make reliable and modern infrastructure available to our health system,” Minister Tufton says.