Electronic medical records introduced at Royal Inland Hospital

A new electronic medical charting system will be introduced at Royal Inland Hospital (RIH) which will help make things more efficient in the emergency department.

Interior Health says the new electronic medical record (MER) system will be in place on Tues, April 12.

“Delivery of safe, quality care for our patients is at the core of what our health professionals do every day. Implementing a new electronic medical record system in Royal Inland Hospital’s Emergency Department will advance us on this important quality journey,” said Health Minister Terry Lake.

The $1.7 million EMR system will be the first one in place in an Interior Health emergency department.

“The new EMR system will enhance patient care by allowing health professionals to input medical information directly into a computer system, instead of creating written orders using paper and pen,” says Todd Stone, Kamloops-South Thompson MLA. “This will reduce the risk of human errors in patient-care decision making that can occur through use of a written order system.”

The new system will be implemented in phases to ensure all staff, physicians, and volunteers are properly trained on the program.

“There may be times during implementation that short delays will occur as employees become accustomed to using the new system. These will be monitored and adjustments will be made, to ensure that quality patient care remains priority at all times,” said Dr. Anders Ganstal, Chief, RIH Department of Emergency Medicine. “These are exciting times for us. Health professionals will benefit by having accurate, instantaneously available, and easily transmittable information for all members of the integrated care team – both in the hospital, and also in the community after the patient leaves Royal Inland.”

RIH has been busy training physicians and nurses to use the EMR system, as well as making some necessary renovations to the Emergency Department to accommodate the system changes. These renovations are largely complete, although patients should be aware that some work may still be occurring over the next few days.