| Physician Order Entry Initial Phase Slated to Go Live in October |
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| A project that will enable practicing doctors to enter orders
and retrieve information on their patients electronically is scheduled to "go
live" at Stanford Hospital and Clinics by Oct. 1, 1999, announced Joanne Burns,
project manager. Called the Enterprise Clinical Information System [ECIS], the project initially will offer results reporting, inpatient order entry (by unit secretary) and patient classifications (number of hours of care needed). A second phase, scheduled for implementation in early to mid-2000, will enable doctors to enter orders directly into the system. "A plan is being developed to determine when the system will be made available throughout UCSF Stanford Health Care," Burns said. "When fully implemented, physicians working at any UCSF Stanford location will have immediate access to a complete record of the care their patients have received at all sites," Burns explained. "The ECIS project at Stanford is one of the best examples of how the need for Y2K remediation results in major benefits to the entire organization. ECIS is the transformation of Stanford's planned Physician Order Entry (POE) project into a project that encompasses all four UCSF Stanford Health Care sites. Burns said the organization has placed a high priority on meeting project deadlines because Stanford's current order entry (SMIS) and interface engine components are not Y2K compliant. In phase 1 one of the ECIS project, a new vendor product, IDX Last Word, will be rolled out at Stanford to meet the challenges of keeping the information system running when the date rolls over to the new millennium. Although Stanford will "go live" first, the other UCSF Stanford sites are participating fully in the implementation effort, which is interdisciplinary and includes active physician participation, Burns explained. Eventually, ECIS will support integrated patient care programs such as pediatric and transplant services, a major focus for all campuses. The database should also be a powerful decision-making tool, assisting medical teams in developing medical care guidelines, evaluating the effectiveness of various treatment, and determining the best way to provide care to a single patient. Last Word is expected to be relatively easy to employ, since the product uses standard ("off-the-shelf") software and support. Hardware and software installation, configuration and detailed project plan approvals have been completed. Team training is progressing smoothly, with classes under way for operators, clinical analysts and IT (information technology) staff, Burns reported. The "push" from Y2K has resulted in funding, resources and the enterprisewide spirit of cooperation necessary to achieve our common goal with a project measured in months instead of years," Burns said. |
COLUMNS President of the Medical Staff NEWS Physicians re-elect two incumbents to Medical Board Marketplace will not correct American health care system Physician order entry initial phase slated to go live in October COLUMNSChief of Staff President of the Medical Staff NEWS Physicians re-elect two incumbents to Medical Board Marketplace will not correct American health care system Physician order entry initial phase slated to go live in October PAST ISSUES |