NORMAN — The notorious scribbling by physicians on prescription orders and medical records could become an eye-straining thing of the past.
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The computer pad physician Brian Yeaman carries while making his rounds indicates how the transition will take place.
The pad is tied to Norman Regional Hospital System patient records, which holds data on medical tests, X-rays, prescriptions, drug allergies and anything else in the person's medical history.
"In Norman on Feb. 1, we launched Meditech, essentially changing how physicians looked at information at the hospital and migrating away from the paper charts,” said Yeaman, who's also the hospital liaison between physicians and information technology.
About the same time, the Norman Physicians' Hospital Organization began using a software system for outpatient records that works with Meditech.
That way, the streamlined system can be used for all patients of hospital physicians, whether they were admitted or not.
The software allows physicians, whether or not they're at the hospital or clinic, to check on patients by reading medical data entered by nurses and lab technicians.
The systems are secure, as only approved physicians and health care workers will have access to patient files.
Yeaman said the only ones in the health system who still use paper charts are physicians, but that soon will change.
"What we will have this summer is the ability to do physician documentation online,” he said. "Sometime in the fall, we will begin the process of electronic order entry, and that will tie in the last piece of paper from the charts.”
Ed Fisher, the health system's chief information officer, said about 18 months of planning and training went into preparing staff for Meditech.
He said about 3,200 people of every health-related stripe had to be trained before the system could go live.
The training was on top of the 52 hours of continuing medical education that physicians must complete every two years.
"It's a monumental and tedious task,” Fisher said. "Just as you think you have everybody, we have new hires with 30 people going through orientation.”
Medical advances in technology are going beyond patient records. Fisher said one example will be radio-frequency wristbands for patients, another part of Meditech that will allow "bedside medication verification.”
With one quick read, a health care worker can be certain of each patient's exact medication and dosage.
Charlie Otis, Norman Regional's information technology services manager, said the health system's technology is booming as its computer servers have nearly doubled over the past 1½ years.
The rapid increase in technology, though, doesn't mean health care workers are forgetting about human interaction. Fisher said the streamlined recordkeeping actually gives nurses and physicians more time to spend with patients.
"Considering the magnitude of this project, they've done a fantastic job,” Yeaman said of nurses and technicians. "In one night, we changed 22 applications — pharmacy, lab, radiology, medical dictation and records — in one night.”
"In Norman on Feb. 1, we launched Meditech, essentially changing how physicians looked at information at the hospital and migrating away from the paper charts.”
Physician Brian Yeaman, who's also the Norman Regional Hospital liaison between physicians and information technology
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