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Medical College of Ohio
Heart of the System
In 1994, when the Medical College Hospital, in Toledo, moved its
Cardiology Clinic across the campus from its former location -- its
patient records made the move as well. 'The patients' charts that
were kept in the cardiologists' offices were also moved to the
hospital clinic,' recalls Database Manager Pam Brewster. 'Because
their offices were in a location on campus remote from the
hospital, they no longer had access to office charts for their
patients. To address this problem the Cardio Clinic database was
developed to provide online access to patient information from
remote locations, including from the Physicians' homes.'
Using FileMaker Pro as its basis, the Cardiac Automated Retrieval
and Entry system -- or CARE® -- was the first remote-access
electronic medical record system on the MCO campus, but it was
quickly joined by others. 'The success of the clinic system spurred
the development of several more databases that assist the
Cardiologists' in managing their inpatient practice,' says Pam,
'including three inpatient services: acute and critical coronary
care, consult, and congestive heart failure (CHF) / transplant.
Another clinic system was developed to assist in the management of
patients who are receiving anti-coagulation therapy, a service
which the cardiologists' provide for all patients at MCO. Two years
later development of a system to generate reports of diagnostic
testing done in the Heart Station was undertaken. All of these
databases are interconnected and provide multiple levels of service
from registration of patients to automated faxing of results to
physicians, clinics and inpatient floors.'
Today there are over 170,000 records contained in the network of
CARE® databases, tracking every aspect of every patient's treatment
-- from office visits to long-term hospital stays, from
registration to discharge. At a keystroke, medical staff can call
up every vital detail in a patient's file. It's a system designed
for the way doctors work -- adaptable, efficient, and thorough.
'CARE® was designed to meet the medical records standards at the
time of implementation,' says Pam, 'and has proven flexible enough
to withstand modifications in the ensuing years to meet the
changing Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare
Organizations (JCAHO) Standards'
One area in which the CARE® system has made a real difference is
in allowing for the automated faxing of information to referring
physicians, clinics, hospital units, and medical record
departments. 'This system has eliminated the need for the
transcriptionists and technical/clinical staff to manually fax
study results and other clinical information to those requesting
the information,' Pam points out. 'The overall outcome has been
increased customer satisfaction and care coordination.' On average,
the system handles 546 faxes per 5 day week -- or 14 per hour per 8
hour day, with employees having to devote an average of eight
seconds to each fax. Doing it manually required over two minutes
per fax, for a dramatic savings in both time and effort.
And, although custom designed for the needs of MCO, FileMaker's
flexibility ensures that the CARE® system is always cost efficient.
'Commercially available electronic medical record systems cost
several million dollars, and most commercially available products
don't provide the functionality that CARE® does,' affirms
Pam.
With FileMaker Pro at the heart of this ever-expanding,
ever-reliable system, the staff at Medical College of Ohio knows
that essential record keeping functions are in good hands -- and
that skilled hands are thus freed up for the vital duty of treating
patients and saving lives.
Contact information
Contact Info for Customer:Pam Brewster
Database Manager
Medical College Hospital
419-383-3613
pbrewster@mco.edu
Filemaker Contact:
Kevin Mallon
Public Relations Manager
FileMaker Inc.
408-987-7227
kevin_mallon@filemaker.com
http://www.filemaker.com
- Easy access to patient records is vital when providing complete and comprehensive medical care. And at the Medical College of Ohio, over 170,000 patient records are organized by means of a vast, flexible FileMaker Pro-based solution. The solution -- more cost-efficient than other medical record systems -- allows doctors to access patient records from home and other remote locations.
- Healthcare/Medical Services
- Higher Education
- Information Technology