An article was recently published in Health Data Management that highlighted Sherman Health’s integration of its patient monitoring devices with its electronic health records system. To read the Health Data Management piece in its entirety, click here.

The article is rather technical and fairly lengthy, so to clarify things we turned to the source: Sherman’s Senior Systems Analyst, Matthew A. Perry, RN. Here’s what he had to say:

“Essentially Sherman Hospital implemented BMDI (Bedside Medical Device Interfaces) in January of 2009 for all of the Critical Care beds and most of the Surgical areas. Technically what this does is it makes a connection between the patient bedside monitors and the EMR (electronic medical record).

For staff and patients this means a lot. The staff in some of these areas were still on paper documentation because of the volume of data they have to chart in a small amount of time. By using BMDI they can simply click a button in the EMR and all that data dynamically streams into the patient’s record saving vast amounts of time and allowing those areas to move from paper to electronic charting.

For the Physicians, this means they have a more complete electronic record of the patient that can even be accessed from their office to make critical decisions on patient care. For the patient, this allows for increased patient safety by eliminating possible transcription errors, continuity of care by making the data available to the right staff at the right time, and we have the ability to alert clinicians to critical changes in the patient’s condition. Some of the equipment that we have connected via BMDI includes patient bedside monitors, surgical anesthesia machines, cardiac output machines and more.”

Now that the electronic medical records are in place at the new hospital, Perry has been able to devote some time toward getting Sherman recognized as a “Most Wired Hospital.” This distinction would recognize Sherman for the amount of technology used in its operations. Look for more information on this endeavor in the coming weeks. In the meantime, head over to our Future of Sherman blog to see brand new images of the just-opened hospital at Randall and Big Timber roads.

Image via York Nursing News