Maarsingh Harm, Oyler Kayla, Tuhaise Gamukama, Sourial Mariette, Nornoo Adwoa O, Moses Wambazu, Rhodes Laura A
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Lloyd L. Gregory School of Pharmacy, Palm Beach Atlantic University, West Palm Beach, FL, United States.
Department of Pharmacy Practice, Lloyd L. Gregory School of Pharmacy, Palm Beach Atlantic University, West Palm Beach, FL, United States.
Front Health Serv. 2022 Sep 7;2:960427. doi: 10.3389/frhs.2022.960427. eCollection 2022.
The efficiency of the patient care process of short-term medical service trips is often not assessed. The Gregory School of Pharmacy has organized annual medical camps in rural Uganda, however, the paper health records used for documentation and communication between stations have shown several limitations that hinder an optimal patient care process. Therefore, our objective was to implement an electronic health record system in these medical camps to improve the workflow and optimize the patient care process.
An electronic health record system that functioned over a battery-operated local area network was developed and implemented. Patient health information was entered and reviewed at the different stations using mobile devices. The impact of electronic health records (used in 2019) on the patient care process was assessed using the number of patients served per physician per hour and the number of prescriptions filled per hour and comparing these to paper records (used in 2017).
Electronic health records were successfully implemented and communication across stations was fluid, thus improving transitions. Importantly, 45% more patients were served per physician per hour and 38% more prescriptions were dispensed per hour when using electronic (2019) compared to paper records (2017), despite having a smaller team in 2019.
Implementation of electronic health records in rural Uganda improved the patient care process and the efficiency of the medical camp.
短期医疗服务之旅中患者护理流程的效率往往未得到评估。格雷戈里药学院在乌干达农村地区组织了年度医疗营，然而，各站点之间用于记录和沟通的纸质健康记录显示出一些局限性，阻碍了最佳患者护理流程。因此，我们的目标是在这些医疗营中实施电子健康记录系统，以改善工作流程并优化患者护理流程。
开发并实施了一个通过电池供电的局域网运行的电子健康记录系统。患者健康信息在不同站点使用移动设备进行录入和审核。使用每位医生每小时服务的患者数量和每小时开出的处方数量来评估电子健康记录（2019年使用）对患者护理流程的影响，并将这些数据与纸质记录（2017年使用）进行比较。
电子健康记录成功实施，各站点之间的沟通顺畅，从而改善了转诊情况。重要的是，与纸质记录（2017年）相比，2019年使用电子健康记录时，每位医生每小时服务的患者数量增加了45%，每小时开出的处方数量增加了38%，尽管2019年的团队规模较小。
在乌干达农村地区实施电子健康记录改善了患者护理流程和医疗营的效率。
