Patient record access improves at Cooper University Hospital

Cooper University Hospital is improving its patient record system.

The hospital recently integrated iSirona Solutions, a software connectivity device that automates the flow of data from medical devices directly into Cooper's Electronic Health Records System (EHR). In less than four weeks, the first phase of iSirona (115 monitors) was implemented into EPIC, the hospital's existing infrastructure and network, resulting in more robust, timely and accurate patient records.
 
"With more than 700 physicians, 75 specialties and 600 beds, Cooper needed a connectivity solution that could integrate quickly and seamlessly with our existing EHR," said Emma Brandon, RN, Director, Clinical Information Systems at Cooper. "Our goal was to find a system that would allow nurses to spend less time at the computer and more time with a patient. iSirona works so well with our existing system that our staff needed almost no training and it has saved a nurse almost 1 hour of time per shift."
 
To date, Cooper officials said they are experiencing improved access to data and decreased charting time for a nurse which in turn has created increased time for direct patient care. With iSirona, the information from a patients monitor connects directly into the system and gives nurses 23 variables of the patient's vitals including heart rate, respiratory rate and pulse. The information can be kept for up to 24 hours, during which the nurse can decide what information they would like to put into the patient's permanent medical record.
 
"This is great for all parties, the nurse, the physician and the patient because if there is an emergency or a patient has to be moved immediately to another department or floor, the attending physician can go back and check what their vitals were," continued Brandon.