Medworxx supports decision making from the bedside to the boardroom


Staff from 4North celebrate the successful launch of
Medworxx on their unit

All frontline nursing staff, managers and directors for the five acute units have received Medworxx training, compliance rates for entering patient information/status is generally above 70 percent on all units, and Medworxx is now being used in rCare rounds to support better patient care.

The Medworxx Utilization Management System (UMS) is Canadian-based, created to be used in a public health care system, and is based on Canada’s current best practice guidelines. It helps staff provide better care to patients by working with them to answer the following questions:

o          How is my patient doing today?

o          What is being done for my patient today?

o          What are we doing to help discharge my patient in a safe and timely way?

o          What are the barriers/delays to discharging my patient and what do we need to do to get past them?

Medworxx monitors patient stay, highlights care delays, assesses discharge readiness, supports optimal care and standardized process across the health system, offers decision support, and provides operational and trending analysis. It also supports decision making at all levels from the bedside to the boardroom and supports process improvement identification and management.

Benefits of the system include improved patient flow, reduced length of stay, improved identification of and processes around alternate level of care, reduced emergency department wait times, reduced readmission rates, and greater transparency through improved knowledge of care delays.

According to Keilee Mok, Emergency RN and Experienced Resource Float Nurse, “Medworxx allows me to see the whole picture of patients’ current status from a holistic view; it also allows me, as a nurse, to create a multidisciplinary team discussion to tailor the best care of plan for patients according to their individual needs.”

Both Lions Gate Hospital and Richmond Hospital have implemented Medworxx. RH chose a frontline model, which means that all frontline nurses in acute will be entering/updating their patient status, using Medworxx in rCare to discuss discharge planning, and ensuring that the entire interdisciplinary team has access to the most current information on the patient.

Medworxx does not replace daily charting and it is not a documentation system. It is a communication tool and a decision support tool requiring clinical judgment.

A big round of applause goes out to the working group, which includes the Carolle Sauro, the acute director, managers, team leaders and educators for 2S, 3S, 3N, 4N and 6N: Carolle Sauro; Ashifa Ahmed; Jas Bassi; Janine Bingert; Janice Cousineau; Sue Goulding; Cindy Klaver; Sandi Kocher; Gail Malenstyn, Gail; Karen Young; Norm Greenway; Melanie Rydings; Silvia Nobrega; Adveen Dosanjh; Tracy Kozij. Kudos also go out to the three Medworxx coaches: Lindsay McArthur, Sarah Coll and Keilee Mok; and project manager Teresa Suranyi

So what is next? We will be working to have more consistent data, and integrating Medworxx more fully into rCare. In addition, within the next few months, we will be rolling out Phase II of the project which will result in a refresh of the look and the implementation of assessment tools.