15 Jun 2011
By: MELISSA PANG
FOUR Singapore hospitals yesterday received an international award for using technology to improve patient care.
Tan Tock Seng Hospital, National University Hospital, Singapore General Hospital and KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital were awarded the prize by HIMSS Analytics.
The global health-care IT data firm grades hospitals on their progress towards creating a “paperless environment” where they rely completely on computers. There are eight stages, including zero.
The four public hospitals received the award for achieving stage six, just a grade short of a completely paperless environment.
In the United States, only 3.5 per cent of more than 5,000 hospitals tracked by HIMSS Analytics have received this grade. The only hospital in Asia to have achieved stage seven is in South Korea.
This is the first time HIMSS Analytics has graded hospitals in Singapore.
Dr Chong Yoke Sin, of the Ministry of Health Holdings subsidiary Integrated Health Information Systems, said the award has placed the four hospitals among the world’s best.
She said it was “the result of focused efforts at our health-care organisations in recent years to harness technology to transform clinical processes, and provide more patient-centric, efficient and cost-effective care”.
The four hospitals use an IT system that allows doctors to order medicine using patients’ bedside monitors. It also gives them information on correct dosages and drug allergies.
Pharmacists use machines that dispense accurate doses of medicine, and spare them from having to decipher illegible handwriting.
Ms Yong Ying-I, Permanent Secretary of the Health Ministry, described the awards as “a substantive achievement” that could lead to fewer medical errors and better patient care.
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