Electronic Medical Records (EMRs)

Saint Elizabeth Home became one of the first nursing home providers in the state to implement an Electronic Medical Records system and Saint Elizabeth Manor is introducing EMR's in the fall of 2007.  After a year long search, Saint Elizabeth Community has chosen its software partner and started implementation in May of 2007.  The search involved prescreening of 20 software applications and 4 were chosen to make a presentation to the community's search team.The team was made up of the Administrator, Director of Nursing, Staff Development and Quality Improvement Coordinator, Medical Records Manager, and seven nurses.

Nurses and Certified Nursing Assistants are documenting at the point of care using handheld devices and tablet PCs.Because of this, the information staff  typically needs to collect to complete an MDS is right there and the system can generate a completed MDS automatically.The time to complete a full MDS typically is 4-5 hours. With EMRs it will take approximately 1 hour.The goal was to find a system that would give nursing staff more time with the residents and less time spent with paperwork and sorting through charts.

Electronic clinical assessments and progress notes with clinical alerts going to all the appropriate disciplines was introduced first.  Communication of significant clinical events will be taken to a whole different level with this system. The information staff needs to make sound decisions is a few clicks and key punches away.  The next step is to implement the Electronic Medication Administration module with the drug ordering and reordering process directly lined to its pharmacy provider.

With a 125 year history of providing quality care to the elderly of Rhode Island, The Saint Elizabeth Community believes the right EMR system brings the home to the next level.