NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - June 16, 2010) - Information Builders, the independent leader in operational business intelligence (BI) systems, today announced that Cambridge Memorial Hospital (CMH), a large community hospital in Ontario, implemented the Information Builders WebFOCUS BI platform to develop an enhanced emergency room (ER) tracking board, which supports enhanced patient flow and care delivery in the ER.
Prior to using WebFOCUS, Cambridge Memorial Hospital relied on a single whiteboard to record patient information and manage the case load in the department. The whiteboard, while satisfying the basic needs of ER, did not fit with the hospital's evolving electronic management system. With the introduction of an ER efficiency initiative, managing patients better became a priority. By automating the process with a new ER tracking system, WebFOCUS enabled ER physicians and staff to efficiently manage ER patients in real time based on acuity.
The new ER tracking system provides a comprehensive overview of each patient and shows the hospital staff data, such as basic patient demographics, and identifies when diagnostic imaging or lab tests have been completed and results are available. The ER tracking board is interfaced with the Meditech hospital information system, ensuring that critical patient information is presented as soon as the patient is registered. The large, TV-like monitor includes different drill downs for each of the ER specified data elements, providing the staff with access to critical information essential to the optimal patient management. The tracking board is also available to authorized users on any computer throughout the hospital. This availability provides the opportunity for clinical support departments, such as diagnostic imaging and laboratory, to view the patient load in ER and estimate the resulting workload. Inpatient services can also view the ER patient load to determine potential admissions.
Cambridge Memorial Hospital also relied on WebFOCUS to ensure the Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS), a national guideline that indicates the severity of a patient's condition, is captured and presented on the ER tracking board. The display of each patient's CTAS level enables physicians and nurses to quickly prioritize the level of urgency and attention required.
The BI platform has also enabled Cambridge Memorial Hospital to address quality management by allowing active monitoring of patient wait times in the ER. Patient wait time management is a critical component of the Ontario Pay for Results program and the provincial CTAS compliance monitoring and reporting.
"The hospital needed a new ER management system and the new Information Builders tracking board enables a powerful first step, providing access to critical patient information in real time, in a user-friendly format for improved management of the department workload," said Ed Norwich, manager of Information Management Technology at Cambridge Memorial Hospital. "The staff enthusiastically supports the new business intelligence platform and the resulting tracking board because it has streamlined the day-to-day processes in the ER, simplified access to the patient's information, and helped enhance the quality of patient care."
"Emergency rooms across North America are challenged to streamline internal operations and keep costs low while providing higher quality of patient care," said Gerald Cohen, president and CEO at Information Builders. "With WebFOCUS, Cambridge Memorial Hospital can ensure that staff inside and outside of the ER can access critical patient information in real time and do their jobs more effectively. Immediate access to this data allows the staff to make timely, fact-based decisions and provide care to those who urgently need it."
About Cambridge Memorial Hospital
Cambridge Memorial Hospital employs more than 1,200 dedicated and skilled healthcare professionals, technicians, and staff to provide excellent care to residents of Cambridge, the township of North Dumfries, and the Region of Waterloo. For additional information on Cambridge Memorial Hospital, visit http://www.cmh.org/
About Information Builders
Information Builders' award-winning combination of business intelligence (BI) and enterprise integration software has been providing innovative solutions to more than 12,000 customers for the past 30 years. WebFOCUS is the world's most widely utilized business intelligence platform. It provides the security, scalability, and flexibility needed at every level of global extended enterprises. Its simplicity helps create executive, analytical, and operational applications that reach dozens to millions of users. Information Builders' iWay Software suite provides state of the art, multi-purpose, pre-built integration components that address all SOA, application, data and information management requirements. Its integration adapters have been adopted by the leading software platform providers. Information Builders also offers solutions in the performance management, business activity monitoring, and enterprise search markets. The company's comprehensive enterprise product offerings give Information Builders' customers the ability to grow and innovate according to their needs.
Information Builders' customers include most of the Fortune 100 and U.S. federal government agencies. Headquartered in New York City with 90 offices worldwide, the company employs 1,450 people and has more than 350 business partners. More information is available at informationbuilders.com.
Contact Information:
Press Contacts
Kathleen Moran
Information Builders
(917) 339-6313
kathleen_moran@ibi.com
Erica Salamida
LEWIS PR
(617) 226-8845
informationbuilders@lewispr.com