Playing the “where’s-the-chart?” game in the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery recently became obsolete when the division switched from using paper files to a fully electronic medical record system.
“In our division, there might be six people vying for a patient’s chart during the week so we used to end up playing ‘Where’s the chart?’ a lot,” said Laura Ochoa, advance practice nurse in thoracic surgery. “With the electronic system, we can all look at one chart simultaneously from our own offices — on the medical campus or at other clinical locations.”
By one estimate, only about 14 percent of all medical group practices nationwide use electronic health records. Professional organizations and federal agencies have been encouraging their use, and the federal government has set a goal for widespread adoption in medical practices within the next 10 years. Electronic records are thought to improve the quality of care, reduce errors and improve efficiency.
The electronic record-keeping system adopted by the cardiothoracic division will be implemented throughout the Washington University Physicians group, a clinical practice group of more than 900 physicians that provides services throughout the region.
The general thoracic surgery service changed to electronic records in the spring, and the division’s cardiac and pediatric cardiothoracic surgery services recently implemented the electronic system, completing the division’s move away from paper medical records.
“The potential advantages for general thoracic surgery are huge because we see a large number of new patients every week,” said G. Alexander Patterson, M.D., the Evarts A. Graham Professor of Surgery and chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery. “Most of those new patients require a significant number of investigations before we can make a plan for their treatment, so it’s an incredible amount of data to manage. Having it in an electronic format has really helped.”
Patients may find electronic medical records improve their experience as well.
“The system can be set up to know your preferred pharmacy, and a staff member can just push a button and send a request directly to the pharmacy,” said Troy Burrus, electronic medical records program manager with the WU Physicians group.
When the entire School of Medicine has installed the electronic system, patients who see more than one specialist could find their visits easier.
“If you’ve seen your dermatologist and then your internist, they will both refer to the same chart, so there’s one list of allergies and one list of medications,” Burrus said.
Burrus said the system automatically checks for harmful drug interactions and can also signal a physician if a chosen procedure or treatment is outside of recommended guidelines. With its connections to testing labs, the system can receive blood test results, X-rays and other information electronically. A task list feature that identifies items that need attention ensures patient calls and test results are dealt with quickly.
Patterson said he believes the electronic record system is far safer and far more complete.
“Having everybody in the patient-care loop with access to the same information makes mistakes much, much less likely,” he said.
The system maintains patient’s records on secure servers, and duplicate servers safeguard against data loss if one should become damaged. Security features prevent unauthorized viewing of patient records.
“One of the biggest questions about electronic medical records is security,” Burrus said. “There are many checks and balances in place to make sure the documents are secure.”