St. Mary’s Hospital mark VCH first with Cerner patient information system

St. Mary’s staff worked closely with Cerner Project Team staff to be the first facility to go live with the Cerner Millennium patient information system.

Staff and physicians at Sechelt’s St. Mary’s Hospital marked a VCH first yesterday (Oct. 17) with the official go-live of the Cerner Millennium patient information system in the hospital.

Coastal Director Brenda Langevin praised the efforts of clinical staff, physicians and project team staff involved in the transition to the new system, thanking them for their efforts over the past few months.

“Once we’re through the challenges of the initial transition we know the new system will be a key tool for us in improving the accuracy and timeliness of patient data that will benefit all of us as well as our patients,” she says.

More Cerner to come

This first go-live is just the beginning of a transition to Cerner that will see other system components being incorporated to eventually allow St. Mary’s staff to support a “One Patient – One Record” approach.

For the next two weeks after the launch, project team staff will be on hand to provide support to the clinical staff and physicians taking advantage of the benefits of the new software. Some of these benefits include:

Up-to-date hospital census — this valuable patient care management tool will help keep info on all admissions, discharges, and transfers current.

Review of past patient info — staff and physicians will be able to use the “viewer” function of Cerner to see past patient information as well as Lab and Diagnostic Imaging results. In the case of Lab and DI results, users will be able to see the results through the provincial eViewer function, which is accessible through Cerner.