Cape Town, 13 May 2004
IT can be used to boost patient care, save lives and help alleviate SA`s critical nursing shortage, says Lorna Powe, head of healthcare solutions at the Computer Sciences Corporation in SA.
Powe told the Nursing 2004 Conference in Sandton yesterday that the South African nursing sector was examining ways in which IT can ease the nursing staff shortage and allow nurses more time to do what they do best - caring for patients.
"Technology can support over-worked nurses by helping them administer the right treatment. Technology also increases a nurse`s productivity by providing key information in real-time. Better information, in turn, helps reduce medical errors; fewer medical errors lead to reduced costs and can even save lives."
Technology also minimises duplication of work and improves communication and patient care documentation compliance. Using handheld devices as nurses do their ward rounds can reduce errors in patient care caused by illegible handwriting on documentation.
Electronic patient records
Powe says one of the IT tools available to hospitals is an electronic patient record (EPR), a database covering all of the patient`s medical history, with functionality to document clinical acts and support clinical decision-making.
EPRs are also being used internationally to facilitate nurse schedules. Nurses use them to key in preferences for shifts using the EPR system and even bid remotely for shifts via the Web. This system is used at the John Hopkins Hospital in the US, which has reduced the time involved in nurse scheduling from 40 hours a month to between 10 and 12 hours a month.
Technology is also playing a key role in medication management, according to Powe.
"Nurses spend significant amounts of time on medication management, a complex process which often involves a number of people and numerous systems. The use of barcodes to scan a patient-specific ID bracelet simplifies the medication process and helps prevent errors. Handheld computers are used to access the patient`s record to verify the five rights - the right patient, the right medication, the right time, the right dose and the right route."
The use of an EPR in medication management alerts the nurse to possible drug interaction, patient overdose and drug allergies. The system automatically updates the patient`s medication record and has the ability to automate reminders, preventing errors such as those resulting from illegible handwriting.
Eliminating errors
Powe says wireless communication systems are widely used in hospitals because they provide anytime, anywhere access to information and messaging.
Current applications include numeric and text paging (notifying a doctor to call a nurse or patient`s family), transmission of data between different systems (avoids recapturing of information), two-way messaging (short message transmissions such as requests for orders/instructions), transactions (such as e-prescribing, e-lab ordering, e-dictation) and wireless Internet (for access to an EPR or e-prescribing to external pharmaceutical companies).
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