Review urges changes to Nanaimo hospital records system

An external review has found problems with new electronic health records at the hospital in Nanaimo, B.C., but it recommends fixing the system, rather than scrapping it.

Medical staff at Nanaimo General Hospital raised concerns that the IHealth systemintroduced in the spring created delays in patient care and was prone toerrors on medication orders.

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In thereviewreleased Thursday, provincial patient safety and quality officerDr. Doug Cochraneagreed with those concerns.

Cochranewas tasked to review IHealth by B.C. Health Minister Terry Lake in July. In his report,he noted the systemreduces productivity andneeds improvement in managing complex care.

His 26 recommendations include improving the system for managing medication orders and dosagesandensuring patients' test results and reports go to the right health providers.

Cochranealso recommended creatingan oversight committee that includes medical staff representatives.

Still, in an interview Cochrane said, "For certain kinds of activity, this system works really well."

Dr. DavidForrest, the is president of the medical staff association at the hospital, praisedCochrane'sreport for thoroughness and "wise advice."

"We were grateful to see the concerns that had been raised by both medical and other staff validated in this report,"Forrestsaid.

However, he said it remains to be seen whether it's even possible for the computer system tosafely and effectively handle functions such as medication orders.

'Tremendous strain' on staff

The Vancouver Island Health Authority'spresident and CEO Dr. Brendan Carr acknowledged the introduction of the new records system, "placed tremendous strain on people in what is already a very challenging work environment."

"There are some very important learnings for us here," Carr said.

"I think we confused the concerns our medical staff brought forward as being problems with their understanding of the tools," he said.

"What they were saying to us is that 'we understand the tool, and we're having concerns with whether or not the tool is actually designed to support the work as we do it.'"

Carr says Island Health will carry out Cochrane's recommendations, and he believes "absolutely" that the problems with the IHealth system can be resolved.

He adds, the health authority still plans to roll the systemout at all Vancouver Island hospitals.

With files from Megan Thomas.