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Local hospital tracks patients with new technology
By Dennis Quick
Senior Staff Writer
Families who have loved ones undergoing or recovering from surgery at Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital in West Ashley no longer fidget as much in the waiting room, wondering when a doctor or nurse will come by with updates on the patient.
They can get that information themselves by viewing a flat-screen monitor in the waiting room.
Since January, Bon Secours St. Francis has been using the patient information and tracking system composed of large-screen monitors installed at nursing stations and in waiting rooms. The monitors are integrated with wireless computers containing patient charts and equipment data installed in the operating rooms and in pre- and post-anesthesia rooms.
Called the Horizon Surgical Manager and produced by Bethesda, Md.-based McKesson Information Solutions, the monitoring system provides hospital staff and patients’ families with information on the various stages of the patient’s operation.
What this means for the hospital is increased patient-care efficiency and potential repeat business from customers, says Margaret Mullins, spokeswoman for Roper St. Francis Healthcare, of which Bon Secours St. Francis is a part.
Roper St. Francis officials declined to disclosing the cost of the system.
To protect the patient’s privacy, a code is used for the patient’s name. Different colors indicate each stage of the patient’s hospital care. For instance, purple indicates the patient has checked in to the ambulatory surgical unit, green means the patient has entered the operating room, blue indicates the surgery has started, red means the surgery has ended. Orange indicates the patient has entered the recovery room.
Icons indicate whether the patient is awake or asleep. Another icon indicates the patient can receive visitors in the recovery room.
Doctors and nurses at nursing stations view similar monitors containing more detailed patient information. Additionally, the monitoring system helps synchronize all resources for the operating room, including staff, supplies and equipment, and alerts hospital staff to missing patient data, such as tests and consent forms.
The monitors also keep track of which doctor is handling which patient. The computerized system replaces a large white board on which hospital staff used to write the location and status of patients and the names of the doctors attending them.
The system helps hospital staff operate more efficiently and gives the patient’s family a sense of control because they can see for themselves their loved one’s status, explains Alisa Shackleford, manger of ambulatory surgery and recovery at Bon Secours St. Francis.
Bon Secours St. Francis is one of nine hospitals in the nation using McKesson’s Horizon Surgical Manager, according to Roper St. Francis officials.
Dennis Quick covers health and wellness for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dquick@charlesotnbusiness.com.
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