By Angela Hill

Minister commends health region on surgical system

Jan 21, 2011 | 5:36 AM

There is a new way to learn about the progress of a family member’s surgery at Victoria Hospital.
In the waiting area at the hospital, there is a big screen with colour, coded information.

Family members receive a code to follow the patient and will be able to see as they move from pre-operation, to the surgery, to recovery room.

“It’s like an arrival and departure screen an airport, tells when you when the flights are, only instead of a flight it tells you where your family member is,” said Sandy Newhouse, the charting team lead for the Surgical Information System project in the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region.

The tracking of family members is the last piece to go into effect from the multi-faceted program designed in Prince Albert to be rolled out across the province.

Saskatchewan Minister of Health, Don McMorris, was in the city Thursday to congratulate the region for their work on the provincial project.

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“Prince Albert really is the role model, I mean this is rolling out for the first time here in Prince Albert … they’ve done the groundwork, the grunt work to make sure this system will work for the rest of the province, once it’s rolled out into other areas of the province,” he said.

While it went into place in Victoria hospital November 2009, the program connected to the provincial surgical network in October last year. This network allows the region to exchange data with Saskatchewan’s surgical wait list, which tracks all patients waiting for surgery.

Along with tracking for family and following wait list information, the program automatically records inventory making for smoother materials management and creates more effective scheduling.

Already the system is showing results in the region.

“What I’ve been able to see in my own practice is that on a slate, I’m perhaps able to do an extra case as a result of us becoming more efficient in the operating room,” said Dr. Edmund Royeppen, a surgeon and chief medical officer for the region.

More than efficiency, the system frees health-care providers to be able to spend more time with their patients, McMorris said.

This is another step in the province’s move towards electronic records.

Swift Current’s Cyprus Region Hospital has also begun to use the system.

ahill@panow.com