Registered Nurse, Kim Cox will soon be able to take a new, medical assistant with her anytime she checks on patients. The rolling computer stations are part of a new, state-of-the-art, $11 million electronic medical records system at the hospital that promises to streamline patient care.
"It really does speed up the process, it will avoid some errors that may occur in a paper system," Mark Bateman said. "It will make sure all of the information is readily available at any time, at any hour of the day, any day of the week."
Saint Agnes' Chief Operating Officer, Mark Bateman says the system, called, "Genesis" for a new beginning in medical charting will enable physicians to check a patients progress from anywhere they have computer access, even at home. Doctors and nurses can check test results and even x-rays to make often life-saving decisions in an instant.
The electronic record also virtually eliminates the need to try to understand doctors' notoriously, less-than-precise penmanship when it comes to ordering tests or medications.
Cox said, "We're not having to read bad handwriting or trying to decipher what an order says."
Nurses at Saint Agnes say the work stations on wheels will not only improve patient record keeping but will free up time to allow them to do what they do best, deliver care and comfort at the bedside.
Cox said. "It frees-up the pharmacy, the nursing and the ancillary staff from having to check orders and having to do all the paperwork and allows us to get to the bedside to do the things we need to do for the patient."
Saint Agnes will go live with Genesis on September 28th and the goal is to become practically paperless to deliver patient care that's off the charts.
