The Royal Hobart Hospital Digital Medical Records Success Story

Abstract

Due to ever increasing space restrictions, the Royal Hobart Hospital implemented a Digital Medical Record (DMR) in July 2006. The aims of the system were to allow improved access to all patient histories for authorised staff, reduce storage space issues and improve the ability of staff to access all hospital clinical information databases via a single electronic link (e.g. pathology, radiology). As a tertiary hospital with many years of clinical information stored in the traditional way (paper in file) it was imperative that we ensured the changeover was systematic, simple and did not adversely affect the running of the hospital. This article describes the processes involved in implementation of the electronic health record, including change management procedures and scanning of older paper-based records for inclusion in the new system.