Bristol Hospital was named among the country’s “most wired” hospitals for the third consecutive year by Health Care’s Most Wired 2016 survey, published in Hospitals & Health Networks, hospital officials said Tuesday.
“This validates the wonderful work of our information services team,” said Bristol Hospital President Kurt Barwis in a statement. “Despite this world of ever-changing technology, the one constant is the need for safe and high-quality patient-centered care. And those hospitals that have met the rigorous criteria to be a Most Wired hospital continue to make tremendous gains by harnessing this technology to reduce the likelihood of medical errors.”
Nine hospitals in the state, including Bristol, were chosen for the honor, including the William W. Backus Hospital, the Hospital of Central Connecticut, Danbury Hospital, Middlesex Hospital, Norwalk Hospital, Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center, Waterbury Hospital, and the Yale New Haven Health System.
The Most Wired distinction has nothing to do with the brick and mortar wiring of a hospital, but instead focuses on how the hospital uses technology to better serve patients and provide quality of care.
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“Basically you need to be on this path to getting as electronic as possible, said Betsy Corbin, director of Information Services at the hospital. “Not only does the organization benefit from it, but the patient is able to benefit from it as well, with the seamless transition of care.”
Corbin is responsible for information services throughout the hospital and health care group, which includes Ingraham Manor Skilled Nursing Facility, the Bristol Hospital Counseling Center, Bristol Hospital EMS, and the Bristol Hospital Multi-Specialty Group and its 15-plus offsite locations, according to hospital spokesman Chris Boyle.
“To maintain this distinction, it takes everybody. It really is conglomerate and it takes everyone moving forward with this,” Corbin said. “It’s not only an IT award. It speaks to our clinicians and everyone else.”
The award is just for the hospital itself, which uses the Meditech electronic medical record system. Meditech was launched in 2011. It allows doctors to input information into patients’ charts, like diagnosis, medications, allergies, even the bar codes from prescription bottles, in “real time,” Boyle explained. It also enables patients to access their health records online through the “patient portal.”
“This is a situation where our size makes a difference A community hospital our size is perfect for Meditech,” Boyle said of the 154-bed facility.
“The award is based on how you are using the technology. In a nutshell, it’s how far advanced you are in using this technology,” Corbin said. “It’s about how this furthers and betters the patient’s experience overall.”
Date:August 10, 2016