UHWI to become model site for fully digitised healthcare management

The University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) is currently a model site for Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean with the almost completed implementation of the Hospital Information Management System (HIMS), which has digitised the hospital's operations.

Shekar Sanumpudi, director of health application at Advanced Integrated Systems,the company which is implementing the system at UHWI, said the HIMS will be taken as an example to other health facilities across Jamaica and the Caribbean.

Sanumpudi explained that there are several benefits to having a fully digitised system, including electronic patient records(EMR), allowingimproved access, efficiency, and quality in the care provided by health facilities.

"Another great feature of this platform is that it offers queue management, persons will have specific appointment times and be able to track wait times from monitors in the waiting area. The application also allows for inventory management, which is also important, especially for the pharmacy. Through the system, drug inventories can be easily monitored and possibly moved to areas that are in greater demand," said Sanumpudi.

"The system will provide an important link between private and public healthcare facilities; health records will be visible everywhere with real-time data. The patient doesn't have to physically travel with their records, but the information is stored in a cloud and all health facilities on the system can access it at any time with the requisite permissions in place. The real-time data also helps in tracking, especially when we have outbreaks. During the chik-V outbreak, this could have been used to track the areas most affected and would have allowed for the proper resources to be deployed in these areas."

REMOTE ACCESS

"A chief medical officer can check remotely and see how many doctors are on duty, the number of patients who have been seen, how many are left to be seen, the expected wait time, how many beds are allocated and how many are unoccupied," Sanumpudi noted.

"The system links all the departments so that MRIs and CAT scans are available quickly for action, instructions can be sent over the system to nurses and doctors, allowing for quick implementation which would lead to faster discharges."

This year's symposium focused on updates in trauma, intensive care, spine surgery, brain surgery, oncology and minimal access surgery. The symposium comprised work-shops and interactive lectures and provided critical updates for doctors, invaluable teaching for residents in training, an opportunity to dialogue with international faculty, network​ing with corporate Jamaica and exposure to technical innovators.

Advanced Integrated Systems showcased some of the most advanced medical technology that will transform Jamaica into a country with the most comprehensive health information database.

The Caribbean Neurosciences 16th annual symposium held last month is the premier event where industry professionals gather to discuss contemporary neurosurgery and developments within the medical fraternity. They are able to present research, view trends and formulate ideas in a push at arriving at solutions.