MASSENA -- Massena Memorial Hospital is installing MEDHOST Emergency Department Information System in its emergency department, a move expected to decrease patient wait times and improve patient safety and care.

Designed by clinicians, MEDHOST data retrieval was designed for hospital emergency rooms and is easy to use.

MEDHOST helps doctors and nurses to create clear and accurate charts, order medications and tests, and provide patient care all from the patient’s bedside or anywhere else in the ED. MEDHOST also helps prevent of human error by alerting clinicians to allergies or drug interactions.

“We recognize that for many people, the emergency department is the pathway into our hospital, and in an effort to make this department safer, more efficient and more patient-friendly, we began evaluating different technologies,” said Ralene North, R.N., Emergency Services Director. “When we first looked at MEDHOST, we were impressed by its simplicity and intuitive approach to assisting clinicians with charting and other essential processes. Once we heard about MEDHOST’s success with other hospitals, we knew that adding the technology to our emergency department would be the best way to accomplish our goals and give our patients a safer ED.”

David Wietz, RN, Information Systems Clinical Coordinator explained MEDHOST was designed by experienced clinicians; the innovative technology is easy to navigate and features a unique touch screen design and an administrative toolkit for us to be able to customize processes. There is a graphical floor plan to improve staff communication through automated notification, risk alerts and visual cues, and allows physicians and nurses to quickly and easily decipher which patients are highest acuity, who has tests completed or pending, which rooms and beds are available, and manage all other patient care priorities. The new ED information system is interfaced with the hospital main system, Meditech, which will help the hospital’s bottom line dramatically by the automated charge capture, which ensures that EDs get credit for all treatments and services provided.

“The new system is centered on patient safety, with an enhanced tool with allergy and interaction alerts. It also gives us immediate notification of abnormal lab values and ancillary reports,” said Dr. Nina Maravegias, Emergency Room physician. "From a physician's perspective, having a system conducive to the hectic ED environment is essential and efficient. Everything is streamlined to timing of the testing to discharge instructions."

The new MEDHOST system will go live this spring at the MMH Emergency Department.