ADDISON, TX – A well-known developer of Emergency Department Information System (EDIS) technology is unveiling a new kiosk designed to identify high-risk patients and give ED clinicians a real-time view of who's in the waiting room.
MEDHOST, based in Addison, Texas, introduced the Emergency Department Patient Access Self Services (ED PASS) on Tuesday and announced that three kiosks will be installed at Northridge Hospital Medical Center, the Northridge, Calif.-based flagship hospital of the Catholic Healthcare West system.
"The waiting room is an important part of the ED visit and it's critical that clinicians not only have visibility into patient conditions but also be able to identify those at high risk and in need of immediate attention," said Craig Herrod, MEDHOST's president and CEO, in a press release "ED PASS was designed to extend the integrated patient safety and process improvement features of MEDHOST EDIS to the waiting room. Now patients can be tracked from the moment they arrive, which gives ED clinicians a complete and real-time view of the department."
The new kiosk offers a touch screen interface for simple data entry, allowing ED visitors to use a driver's license to register. Patient demographics are quickly captured in the system, allowing clinicians to see the reason for the patient's visit, the location and intensity of the injury, and complaint-specific risk factors. Desktop alerts then notify clinicians when a high-risk patient checks in.
"Data can be entered by the patient as they arrive, which speeds processes, keeps nurses focused on caring for patients and gives us rich information about which patients might have ailments that require immediate attention," said Stephen Jones, Northridge Medical Center's medical director of emergency services. "We also are gathering more accurate patient information and time stamps, which streamline registration, allow us to better manage the waiting room portion of the ED visit and provide patients with a better experience overall."
MEDHOST has contracts with more than 160 healthcare providers, including the Baylor Healthcare System in Texas, Catholic Healthcare West in California, the New York-based Catholic Health System and the Tenet Healthcare Corporation, and is the preferred EDIS provider for VHA, Inc.
