WILLMAR, MN – Rice Memorial Hospital, which serves a 14-county area in west central Minnesota, will implement an emergency department information system in its ED as part of hospital-wide efforts to switch to electronic documentation.
The hospital chose an EDIS system from Addison, Texas-based vendor MEDHOST. The technology includes decision support functionality, point-of-care risk alerts and CPOE-ready drug content.
"We were very impressed with the value the risk mitigation content offers and felt that an electronic system with these features would help us heighten our patient care and safety," said George Gordon, MD, chief medical officer at Rice Memorial.
Gordon said the new system is intuitive, eliminates excessive typing and is free of drop-down menus, so clinicians can document patient care using a touch-screen interface.
"(The) electronic tracking module delivers a dynamic and interactive view of the ED," said Kathy Hunt, emergency department director at Rice Memorial. "(The) system allows real-time changes on site, as opposed to waiting for a vendor to make adjustments, which is important in a fast-paced setting such as an emergency department."
Rice Memorial sponsors various healthcare degree programs in conjunction with the Rural Health School at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and the Rural Physician Associate Program at the University of Minnesota. The city of Willmar owns the hospital.
"We are proud to aid Minnesota's largest city-owned hospital in its efforts to provide outstanding patient care in its emergency department," said Craig Herrod, president and CEO of MEDHOST. "The face of emergency medicine is changing because progressive hospitals like Rice are choosing the best technologies to dramatically improve patient care."
