At St. Joseph's Health Centre, work is currently underway on one of our hospital’s most significant projects to date – eCare – which is the design and build of a fully integrated electronic health record for our in-patients who entrust their well-being to us daily.
As our patients journey through St. Joe’s receiving care from different members of their health-care team, an electronic health record will electronically capture the care they receive, providing their practitioners with quick and comprehensive information. This advancement in the way care is delivered at St. Joe’s, will mean more co-ordinated and improved care for our patients.
An electronic health record will also provide some other key benefits such as:
- Improved and faster health-care decisions by health-care teams
- Less reliance on patients to recall previous treatment received
- Reduced chance of misdiagnosis in an emergency situation
- Decline in the need for duplicate testing
- Reduction in loss of time due to incomplete paper records
The project is now in its second phase of implementation. Currently working groups from different clinical areas within the hospital are providing expert opinion on the technical infrastructure, to ensure that the safety and care of our patients is top of mind as functional and design decisions are made.
The protection of personal health data is also a very important consideration as the system is implemented. We are following both government requirements and industry standards to ensure that the privacy of our patients will not be compromised.
As the government of Ontario forges ahead with its goal of providing an electronic health record for every Ontarian by 2015, eCare strategically aligns St. Joe’s with the government’s health-care priorities. An electronic health record has been identified as one of the critical elements of an integrated, and sustainable health care system. eCare therefore positions St. Joe’s to play a role in healthcare integration and co-ordination and ensures that the hospital is poised to take advantage of the collaborative opportunities for improved patient care and outcomes which an electronic health record provides.
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For more information please contact:
Kathy Cox
Communications Associate
Tel: 416 530 6389
Email: coxkat@stjoe.on.ca
Page last updated: March 05, 2013
