Our Lady Of The Lake Connects Infusion Pumps To The EHR To Help Decrease Errors And Improve Care

Main Category: Medical Devices / Diagnostics
Also Included In: IT / Internet / E-mail;  Litigation / Medical Malpractice
Article Date: 24 Nov 2009 - 11:00 PDT

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Helping set the standard for interoperability between medical devices and electronic health records (EHRs), Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center (OLOL) has successfully tested and implemented auto programming between infusion pumps and a bar-code point-of-care system throughout its facility. Through a three-way partnership with Cerner (Nasdaq:CERN) and Hospira, Inc. (NYSE:HSP), OLOL, one of the largest private medical centers in Louisiana, has completed house-wide deployment of a connected medication infusion device, which helps minimize manual programming for entering medication orders on the pump at the patient's bedside. OLOL has used the integrated system on more than 600 wireless infusion pumps throughout the facility since June.

"Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center has a strong history of using technology to drive potential error out of the care process," said OLOL Chief Nursing Officer Debbie Ford, RN, MSN. "We have been using bar-coding technology for medication administration to ensure the five rights of medication administration safety. This next phase involving the auto-programming of the infusion pump is intended to further improve care for our patients and to provide our clinicians with tools to provide the safest care."

The auto programming process uses a set of bar codes located on the patient wristband, the medication bag and the infusion pump to pull data from the EHR and to confirm the five rights of medication administration -- right drug, right dose, right patient, right time and right route of administration. Using a handheld device, the caregiver scans the three bar codes and confirms the order on the pump to deliver the medication exactly as ordered by the physician in the EHR. Auto programming infusion pumps decreases the chance for dosing errors, reduces programming time and increases compliance with medication orders. The device and the technology that powers it were developed in partnership between Hospira and Cerner. The Hospira Plum A+(R) infusion pump with Hospira MedNet(R) safety software is connected to the Cerner Millennium(R) system through the CareAware MDBus(TM), a plug-and-play device connectivity architecture that enables two-way communication between medical devices and the EHR.

"This type of interoperability between medical devices and the electronic health record sets a new standard for accuracy of information and optimizing workflow for clinicians," said Tom Herzog, Cerner's vice president for IT and healthcare devices. "By connecting infusion pumps to the electronic medical record, we can help eliminate a potential source of dangerous medication errors, ultimately making care safer and more efficient for patients."

Auto programming infusion pumps can help improve patient safety and optimize workflow for clinicians by:

-- helping to reduce programming errors that can potentially occur during the medication administration process;

-- integrating bedside clinical information into the EHR to provide a broader patient-care context for clinicians;

-- seamlessly communicating medication information between pharmacy and other departments;

-- helping decrease time spent administering and charting medications, allowing nurses to spend more time caring for patients;

-- enabling a more timely clinician response to patient changes with access to near real-time medication-administration information; and

-- automating documentation to reduce missed billing opportunities, helping improve hospital revenues.

"Integrating state-of-the-art technology from Hospira and Cerner has resulted in unrivaled medication management safety and support at the point of care," said Symeria Hudson, vice president, Medication Management Systems, U.S., Hospira. "Auto programming infusion devices to interface with the patient EHR is an invaluable tool in delivering optimal patient care."

According to the 2006 Institute of Medicine's report, "Preventing Medication Errors," medication errors most frequently occur during the prescribing and administration stages. Connectivity between the Plum A+ with Hospira MedNet and the Cerner Millennium healthcare information technology (HIT) computing platform helps hospitals like OLOL close the loop on patient safety and enhances workflow at these critical junctions in the medication-administration process.

About Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center

Our Lady of the Lake is one of the largest private medical centers in Louisiana, with more than 700 licensed beds and an 11-parish service area. In a given year, Our Lady of the Lake treats more than 33,000 patients in the hospital and serves more than 350,000 persons through outpatient locations with the assistance of more than 1,000 physicians and 4,000 team members. http://www.ololrmc.com

About Cerner

Cerner is transforming healthcare by eliminating error, variance and waste for healthcare providers and consumers around the world. Cerner solutions optimize processes for healthcare organizations ranging in size from single-doctor practices, to health systems, to entire countries, for the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, and for the healthcare commerce system. These solutions are licensed by more than 8,000 facilities around the world, including approximately 2,100 hospitals; 3,300 physician practices covering more than 30,000 physicians; 500 ambulatory facilities, such as laboratories, ambulatory centers, cardiac facilities, radiology clinics and surgery centers; 600 home-health facilities; and 1,500 retail pharmacies. The following are trademarks of Cerner: Cerner, Cerner's logo, Cerner Millennium and MDBus. Nasdaq: CERN. For more information about Cerner, please visit our Web site at http://www.cerner.com.

Source
Hospira

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