What do you really want to know about the changes being introduced by the Clinical & Systems Transformation (CST) project?

Below are answers to some of the questions the CST team recently received from hospital nursing units. If you have any more questions – anything at all, but especially questions related to how clinical work will be changing as part of CST – we’d love to hear from you at info@CSTproject.ca. Take a look at our online FAQs too.

How is CST different from Cerner?

CST is a broad clinical project, which includes several technical elements. These technical elements include bar-coded medication administration; front-end speech recognition; and a new, shared clinical information system, which is based on Cerner software. Here’s some more detail:

CST is a clinical transformation which is enabled by a system transformation. That means we are transforming and standardizing the way clinical work is done. These new ways of delivering patient care will be supported by a new, shared clinical information system across VCH, PHSA and PHC.

Cerner is the company that develops the clinical information system on which we are basing much of our clinical transformation. We’re configuring the software so that it works the way our clinicians need it to. It will be our very own system once we’ve finished designing it and we’re currently working on finding the right name for it.

Will patients have a summary sheet?

There will be an electronic version of a summary sheet in the new clinical information system called an mPage, which is much like the Kardex that we use now. It will be updated automatically based on electronic charting.

Will all flow sheets and vital signs sheets be in the new clinical information system?

Yes they will.

Will the information required for 48/6 be in the new clinical information system?

Yes. We will be collecting the same information and still creating care plans for patients, but those plans will be contained in the new clinical information system. This information will be integrated with the admission assessment.

Will the hand-written medication administration record (MAR) be replaced by the new clinical information system? And how will we communicate with pharmacy?

Yes, the MAR will be accessed electronically in the new clinical information system.

Here’s how we will communicate with Pharmacy: in acute care settings, physicians and other ordering providers will enter medication orders directly into the clinical information system. The orders will be received and reviewed by pharmacy; the medications will be packaged and bar-coded, then dispensed using the new Omnicell automated dispensing cabinets. The bar-coded medication package will be scanned when the medication is administered and the system will check the drug against the order to ensure that the correct medication is being given.

This video, Get in the Loop, gives a good overview of the new process.

Questions?

Comments? Questions? Get in touch at info@CSTproject.ca or take a look at CSTproject.ca.