With around eighty beds on the ICU, CCU and NICU, the Oost-Limburg Hospital (ZOL) places a strong emphasis on the provision of critical care. Reliable software is crucial for this. This is one of the reasons why CIO Peter Thijs advocates for PDMS integrated into HiX.
"ChipSoft's solution goes further than a 'classic' PDMS that emphasises collecting data from different monitors," Peter Thijs explains. "Our package offers a completely integrated work setting for the doctors and nurses, as well as bi-directional linking with other hospital services, such as imaging, lab, pharmacy. It is truly a powerful tool."
Optimal monitoring
With the new PDMS, doctors and nurses can monitor patients optimally. The system collects the readings from the equipment connected to the patients and displays them in an easy to understand manner. In addition, health care professionals have digital access to all relevant (digital) options for registration and questionnaires. This provides them with optimal support in the care of their patients.
Paperless
"A lot of information is collected at an intensive care unit, and a lot of people are involved," Peter Thijs explains. "It's a challenge to make sure that everyone has access to all the information they need. With this PDMS, we are creating a paperless situation for both doctors and nurses, where all data is collected in one place. This way, the transfer of information within the department, but also between the department, is conducted more efficiently."Time savings
Kim Engelen is an anaesthetist and as a doctor co-responsible for PDMS in the Intensive Care Unit. He believes that the strength of PDMS - in addition to data mining - lies mainly in the workflow and the link to research applications. "There are time savings for both doctors and nurses. Especially the detailed registration offers more support. The link to applying for examinations, JCI accreditation criteria, the registration of basic health care data: HiX helps us more than we are used to."Well prepared
Erika Dekleermaeker works as head nurse at the Intensive Care Unit and carries out her registrations in HiX behind a mobile computer in such a way that it seems as if she has been working with it for years. "Everyone's happy with it, because we're well prepared. The nurses were able to get plenty of practice, and they were able to ask a lot of questions during the training sessions. That is now showing fruit."Improvements around registration of basic medical data
Erika Dekleermaeker sees for herself a great improvement around the registration of basic medical data. "Everything is continuously recorded and monitored. Because everything is predefined, I also see many advantages for the quality of care in general. I'm really pro-HiX", she says enthusiastically.Challenging period
We have put in a lot of work to get the doctors and nurses so enthusiastic. CIO Peter Thijs speaks of a challenging, beautiful implementation period: "The implementation process was an intensive operation. On the one hand, because we wanted to have three different departments live [ICU, CCU and NICU, eds.]. Each has its own emphases and approach. The challenge was to integrate these three workflows into one system. On the other hand, we deal with specific emphasis in the field of administrative processes and legislation and regulations in Belgium. Fortunately, ChipSoft gave us a clear project plan with a clear timetable.""Very good support"
"Built like a house"
The project plan came from Arjen van Hengel, project leader of this operation on behalf of ChipSoft. He also enjoys the smooth roll-out at the hospital. "Everyone has put in a great effort with a great deal of energy. The result: this PDMS is built like a house. The requirements and preferences in Belgium are different from those in the Netherlands – consider the registration of basic medical data, for instance – but this was just a fun challenge. It is lovely to see that we can also support Flemish care in an optimal way using PDMS."
