The Chatham-Kent Health Alliance is just over two weeks away from launching a new health information system.
The e-VOLVE system brings together five hospitals in the Erie St. Clair region to transform the way clinical services are delivered and puts less of an onus on patients to try to translate doctor’s notes and instructions.
CEO Lori Marshall says it is good news for the hospital and patients in terms of sharing information.
“It will mean everything from the physicians inputting their own orders, being able to check those orders quickly, no more having to interpret a doctor’s handwriting, and lots of other safety pieces that are built into this,” Marshall explains.
Marshall says it’s much more than an information sharing system, it’s a transformation in delivering care.
But hospital officials are asking for patience. Marshall says the new system, which has been in the works for a few years now, will be a work in progress for the first little while.
“I think all of us understand anytime we’re handed a new system, even though we’re trained with it we’re maybe not quite as efficient the first day we’re using it,” Marshall says. “We are going to try to reduce our activity as much as we possibly can towards the very end of October, beginning of November, until we get through that learning curve and make sure we’re able to use the system well and respond to our patients.”
The new e-VOLVE system will officially go live November 1st.