• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Survey Finds Emergency Departments Unprepared to Identify Bioterrorist Threats, Outbreaks and Flu

Posted on: Monday, 13 February 2006, 06:00 CST

Picis announced today a comprehensive survey of clinicians and hospitals administrators that revealed that 65 percent of emergency room professionals do not have technology in place to identify public health outbreaks and bioterrorist threats. The results, released at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2006 Annual Conference and Exhibition (Picis Booth #2718), also identified that seventy-one percent of emergency room professionals surveyed cited emergency department (ED) information systems for reducing patient wait times.

"Emergency departments are facing financial constraints and an aging patient population that is putting added strain on hospitals," said Mark Crockett, M.D, F.A.C.E.P, president of Picis Emergency Care Division. "This survey suggests that biosurveillance technology is desperately needed in the nation's emergency departments to detect outbreaks and help EDs prepare for a surge of patients."

The survey highlighted what clinicians and hospital administrators believe are the most important aspects of technology in their hospital. Many of the findings point to improving quality care, safety and efficiency. Among the specific findings:

-- Technology critical to improving communication--Seventy-eight percent of emergency room respondents believe efficiency increases when staff have access to other departments' data, such as operating room or ICU resources and the clinical results of a patient. As proof, 67 percent of perioperative and ICU professionals cited Picis automation technology as having reduced the amount of phone calls within the department.

-- Collecting patient data critical to improving care-- Nearly 80 percent of respondents cite reporting of data has helped them re-engineer care processes at their medical center. Hospitals analyze Picis data to improve care processes that, for example, help decrease patient wait times, reduce chances of medical errors and increase hospital efficiency. In addition, seventy percent of perioperative and ICU professionals surveyed cite medical device connectivity to a central clinical documentation system as having helped improve patient care.

-- Emergency departments do not have biosurveillance technology to identify epidemics-- Sixty-five percent of emergency room professionals are not equipped to detect an outbreak or prepare hospitals for a surge of patients. Biosurveillance technology analyzes, detects and alerts emergency department and public health workers of unusual levels of reported symptoms.

-- ED automation technology can help reduce patient wait times and ED overcrowding-- Seventy-one percent of respondents indicated that emergency department information systems have helped reduce patient wait times. The software helps increase the number of patients seen per hour, through increased communication, quicker registration and other process improvements.

-- Remote access to patient and hospital data important--Nearly 90 percent of respondents believe that it is important or very important to have Web or remote access to a hospital's central information system to provide efficient, quality care from anywhere, anytime. This enables physicians to access a patient record from anywhere with a Web connection, enhancing decision making.

The survey, conducted by Picis, invited clinicians and hospital administrators to complete a questionnaire to submit electronically. The 250 respondents were divided into two groups, emergency department professionals, and OR/ICU professionals. The results from the entire group have a margin of error of +/- six percent. The ED specific results have a margin of error +/- nine percent. The OR/ICU specific results have a margin of error +/- eight percent.

About Picis

Picis is the leading, worldwide provider of information systems that deliver proven best-in-cluster patient care transformation for the highest-acuity care areas of the hospital -- the emergency department, the operating room and the intensive care unit. The Picis corporate headquarters are located in Wakefield, Massachusetts and the company has major offices in Chicago and Barcelona, Spain. Picis' systems are installed in more than 900 medical centers and hospital networks worldwide, automating more surgical procedures, emergency visits and intensive care stays than any other system in the world. Picis has received numerous awards, including those from Microsoft, Ernst & Young, HCIT Research, Healthcare Informatics and Frost and Sullivan. Picis was recently named to both the Deloitte & Touche Fast 500 and the Inc. Magazine 500 lists (105th overall) of the fastest growing private companies in the U.S. More information is available at www.picis.com.

Source: Business Wire

More News in this Category