MEDITECH Expanse EHR Software Implementation at Southern Ohio Medical Center resulted in enhancing C. difficile testing process leading to quick disease detection and a reduction in canceled tests.
Benefits of MEDITECH Expanse EMR software implementation
The medical center implemented new Expanse workflows and tools solutions earlier this year. The hospital has realized a 30% relative change in hospital-acquired infection of C. difficile and a 32% relative change in canceled tests.
Before the Electronic Medical Records (EMR) Software implementation, the medical center’s testing processes were inefficient and were consuming the staff members’ time which could have been otherwise utilized in other critical areas of work.
The positive results were a result of the collaborative effort between Southern Ohio Medical Center’s Quality Improvement Team and MEDITECH Professional Services to make way for evidence-based care, enhance patient outcome levels and streamline the C. difficile testing process to boost productivity levels.
The robust EHR software has helped physicians at SOMC to determine the risk of C. difficile infection and automatically trigger orders when required. The new upgrades have resulted in the following benefits,
- Enhance patient outcome levels.
- Simplify the C. difficile testing process.
- Care teams are better aware and hence offer high-quality care to patients.
- Prevent community spread.
Manual process of C. difficile testing
Earlier, the medical center relied on a manual process of C. difficile testing which consumed 3.5 staff hours every week and caused inefficiencies in the form of canceled tests, wasted supplies, and testing turnaround delays. Through MEDITECH Expanse technology solutions the hospital was able to redesign its workflows, enhance clinical documentation, and use real-time alerts and surveillance monitoring to support the decision-making process and provide patient treatment earlier.
Time savings with a reduction in canceled C. difficile tests
MEDITECH Professional Services and SOMC designed a Business and Clinical Analytics reports helping measure the impact of C. difficile reduction efforts. Time savings have occurred in the following areas with a 32% decrease in canceled tests,
- 5 hours of pharmacist’s time per week, earlier were spent going through C. difficile orders.
- Time documenting test cancellation and cancellation reasoning within the patient chart was reduced by 5 minutes.
- Decrease in testing results postponements.
- Time saved collecting excessive specimens
