Rural Hospital Gets Technological Upgrade - Local News

Rural Hospital Gets Technological Upgrade

By AJ Williams.

The nurses at Ogallala Hospital no longer have to read a doctor's handwriting.

Everything is being entered into a new computer system making the hospital virtually paperless.

Nurses and doctors at Ogallala Hospital are in the middle of a big change in their daily work routine.

Patty Davis, Clinic Informatics Facility Director says, “On July 13th we had our providers go paperless which means that they put their orders in through the computer, they put their progress notes in through the computer, they do history & physicals, everything.”

It's the latest in hospital information technology.

The Cerner System was brought on board by the hospital's parent company, Banner Health, to begin their compliance with President Obama's Healthcare Act by 2014.

Davis Says, “All healthcare facilities, whether it be doctor's facilities, pharmacies, anything healthcare related has to be computerized by 2014.”

Davis has been working with the system for the last two years to prepare her for the transition at the hospital which began earlier in the month.

Ogallala is the first rural hospital in the Banner Healthcare System to receive this new computerized provider order entry system.

“They're doing excellent,” says Daivs, “they are, because they don't want to go back to paper.”

Currently, patient records can be accessed by doctors and nurses from anywhere within the Banner Healthcare system, which covers a couple of states.

But Davis says eventually she hopes technology will catch up even further and connect with hospitals around the country.

“That's a brilliant idea,” says Davis, “and hopefully that will happen eventually and I believe with the administration we have in the country now, that that's what their plan is.”

The new system will help the hospital staff become more efficient in their duties while spending more time with the patients.

“We're patient centered; we are patient first and patient safety first. They're why we're here are our patients. And that's why we have the electronic medical record,” says Davis.

Attached Files: Ogallala Hospital Paperless.jpg

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