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Technology Creates Health Care That’s Better Than Ever

Mitchell Carneol, M.D., Internal Medicine, Columbia St. Mary’s

Posted: Nov. 10, 2006

At Columbia St. Mary’s we are continuously working to improve patient care, for the sake of better medical outcomes and patient satisfaction. This is evidenced by several new systems we have recently implemented to provide the most accurate and effective care possible.

All of our newest tools will be featured in the Prospect Medical Commons opening this month. Along with the numerous patient amenities at this clinic, our innovative practices will help patients receive higher quality care and better outcomes.

For example, after more than three years of planning, we have recently implemented the Electronic Health Record (EHR) throughout our system. Using the EHR, doctors will be able to care for patients more accurately and safely. One feature is the medications ordering program, in which the system will automatically check for potential drug interactions and allergies, improving the safety of our patients who require multiple medications.

The EHR, after it is fully implemented, will incorporate evidence based clinical guidelines and pathways which reflect “best practice” based on the study of national patient outcomes. These pathways will help physicians to treat patients with protocols that have been proven most effective across the country. This approach to medicine is especially effective with managing patients with chronic health issues such as diabetes and congestive heart failure. This attempt to standardize medical care will improve patient safety by reducing medical errors and improving patient outcomes.

Another system we have implemented is the Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS), which allows us to store all our imaging data such as X-rays, CAT scans and MRIs digitally. Physicians across the Columbia- St. Marys clinics and hospitals have more efficient access to results which improves our ability to deliver high quality care to our patients. Patients traveling between doctors or clinics can be comfortable knowing that physician will have ready access to these images anywhere in our health system.

As technology plays an ever increasing role in the delivery of health care, we have seen the effort of both hospitals and physicians to improve as the bar for performance is continuously set higher in Wisconsin.

This is evidenced by institutions such as the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality. Established in 2003, this organization promotes health care quality improvement by engaging health care systems from around the state in developing uniform measurements of quality care, sharing best practices, and sustaining educational and wellness activities for patients.

Columbia St. Mary’s has been leading the way with the Wisconsin Collaborative from its inception, working to establish benchmarks of excellent patient care. We believe that health care performance improves when data and outcomes are shared with other statewide providers. This participation supports our vision of high quality patient care now and in the future.

As technology progresses, I believe medicine will continue to become more efficient and safer for patients. Errors will be decreased as information is stored electronically, and treatments more effective as best practices are shared between hospitals and health care systems.

The Internet in combination with the EHR will continue to increase in importance as patients eventually access clinical information as well as perform some health maintenance such as making appointments online. We hope to create portals allowing patients to input historical health information as well as access to educational materials and communication with your doctor’s office. As we move forward with our EHR project, I see continued improvement in the quality of care for our patients and greater satisfaction.

Mitchell Carneol, M.D.
Internal Medicine
Columbia St. Mary’s
414-326-1745

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