Sidra Medical and Research Center, a member of Qatar Foundation, is aiming for the first, fully integrated, clinical information system in a hospital in the Middle East.
Sidra’s board of governors has approved continued negotiations with two companies for the development of this system.
Cerner and Eclipsys, two international technology companies, will compete for the opportunity to build a complete electronic medical record for patients at Sidra, scheduled to open to patients in 2012.
The record will enable the hospital to capture, store, and communicate patient information among care-givers in a structured way to support clinical decisions and leading medical practices.
Sidra’s patients will benefit directly from the new electronic health record, executive project director, Dan Bergin, said.
“The new system will allow us to ensure quality and safety of care in a managed, integrated way throughout the hospital. This means our clinicians can make better decisions, based on better quality information, evidence, and best practice,” he said.
Though many existing health providers have elements of an electronic health record, Bergin believes Sidra will become the first hospital in the Middle East to combine all of the necessary elements into one full solution to providing world-class treatment and care.
The planned clinical information system, or electronic patient record, will be the foundation to the new hospital’s information technology.
Sidra is designed to be all digital with the most sophisticated medical equipment available to ensure as much automation as possible.
The planned electronic patient system could also allow Sidra to support home-based care and outpatients, should the hospital decide to offer these services, as nurses will have full access to patient records on portable devices.
The electronic patient record system will also accommodate many pieces of related health care technology and equipment, including hand-held devices that can tell health workers where patients are in the hospital at any time.
Bergin noted that Sidra would provide world-class patient care to all those Qataris and residents who had been referred to its services.
“Sidra’s implementation of the best possible technology is because these tools allow us to offer quality, safe care that will help us prevent medical errors and make decisions that are in the patients’ best interests,” he said.
“In much the same way that companies collect financial data to make good business decisions, Sidra will do the same for its patients,” Bergin added.
Sidra will offer specialty care for women and children, in addition to select medical and surgical services for adult men and women.
In addition to world-class clinical care and biomedical research, Sidra will provide medical education in conjunction with Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar. |
