Hamilton Health Sciences transitions to using digital medical records

In just over a week Hamilton Health Sciences will be switching to a completely digital medical records system called Epic.

Epic will replace dozens of electronic and paper record systems and will allow a patient’s detailed medical history to be available to every doctor, nurse, and specialist involved in their care.

HHS Executive Vice President Dave McCaig says switching to a new centralized electronic system is a game-changer for patient care. HHS says medical records are much more than just information, “it really does lead the processes, the workflows for all of our providers, our physicians,” McCaig said.

HHS is deploying more than nine-thousand new devices to allow staff to interact with the system. For the first time, all of a patient’s medical history will be available in one place, and easily accessible.

McCaig says the new system will make patients safer, “the chance to eliminate the opportunities for errors is so compelling.”

Chief Information Officer Michelle Leafloor says potential problems with patient care, like drug interactions or inappropriate dosages, are being sought out by the system, and alerts are automatically sent to a patient’s care team.

Dr. Barry Lumb is leading the implementation of the system and says it identifies redundant orders for scans or bloodwork that waste time and resources making the hospital more efficient.

McCaig says the extra efficiency will eventually help HHS work through the pandemic-induced backlog of patients in need of tests and procedures.

More than twenty other hospitals in Ontario are switching to this new system, including St. Joseph’s Healthcare where it is already in use. This means healthcare professionals at different hospitals will be able to access your records which HHS says will improve overall patient care.

Patients will also be able to access all this information through an app on their device.

The system goes live at all Hamilton Health Sciences hospitals on June 4th.