Can Tho City Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital officially completely abolished paper medical records to switch to operating electronic medical records (EMR), contributing to the digital transformation of Can Tho's health sector. Doctor CKII. Nguyen Thi Thuy Ai - Director of the Hospital informed Lao Dong Newspaper about this journey.
Please tell me, doctor, what kind of journey has passed, how much positive value has it brought to both patients and the team of doctors?
The official operation of electronic medical records is an important milestone in the hospital's digital transformation journey. To implement it, the hospital has synchronously invested in information technology infrastructure, completed HIS, LIS, RIS/PACS, EMR systems, digital signatures and security solutions.
The clearest value is that patients are served faster, more conveniently and saferly. Information on examination, diagnosis, treatment, tests and diagnostic imaging is updated centrally, helping doctors quickly access all necessary data to make professional decisions, reducing time for searching, rotating and storing records.
For the medical team, electronic medical records help fundamentally change working methods, increase accuracy, transparency and information retrieval capabilities. From a management perspective, digital data helps hospital leaders have more timely information to manage, supervise quality and use resources effectively.
During the conversion process, did the hospital encounter difficulties, and how flexible solutions must be applied?
First is the difficulty of investment, then ensuring connection and synchronization between many systems such as HIS, LIS, RIS-PACS and data interconnection platforms.
But according to us, the biggest difficulty lies in people. The medical team has been familiar with paper records for many years, so when switching to the digital environment, it is inevitable that there will be hesitation, especially in terms of operations, data entry speed and responsibility when signing electronic records. This is not only a change in technology but also a change in working habits and culture.
We have focused on training and direct guidance at departments and rooms, arranged technical support and gradually completed the process so that medical staff can master the system.
We clearly define: not trading patient safety for technological progress, digital transformation must help medical examination and treatment activities be more stable, transparent and effective.
When all medical examination and treatment data of the mother and newborn is stored in digital space, how should the hospital ensure absolute information security and network security?
Health data of mothers and newborns is particularly sensitive data. Right from the deployment of electronic medical records, Can Tho City Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital determined that information security and network security are consistent requirements, in parallel with professional quality.
The hospital deploys data protection in many layers, including strict control of access rights according to location and tasks; user authorization, account management, authentication and control of data exploitation process. The system is also focused on solutions for backup, recovery, monitoring and ensuring the integrity and readiness of data.
We do not aim for digital transformation to reduce costs immediately, because the initial stage still requires significant investment in infrastructure, software, security and storage. Efficiency needs to be seen in the long term, not only in costs but also in management efficiency, professional quality, data security and patient experience.
Thank you doctor!
