Sharjah Hospital achieves prestigious award for world-class healthcare information system

"University Hospital Sharjah is the first hospital in the UAE to achieve the prestigious Stage 6 level and joins a very select global group of world-class hospitals that have successfully deployed this high level of healthcare information technology that significantly reduces costs, improves the quality of care and increases levels of safety." said Michel Amous, Country Manager, InterSystems Middle East and India.

InterSystems TrakCare, an Internet-based unified healthcare information system, was first implemented in March 2011 and provides UHS with a unified healthcare system that enables all patient information, clinical and nonclinical, to be stored in a single electronic medical record.

According to Amous, key to the accreditation is that UHS has deployed advanced safety features such as computerised physician order entry (CPOE) and on-line physician documentation, both supported by clinical decision support to offer best practices in evidence-based clinical guidance to the physicians. Nursing care is aided by on-line comprehensive nursing documentation supported by the safety of closed loop medication administration (CLMA) where each unit dose medication is verified by a bar code scan before delivery to the patient to ensure the "five rights" of medication delivery are achieved. Closed loop medication administration for each unit dose provides a whole new level of patient safety in medication delivery.

Dr. Amr Abdel-Hamid, Special Advisor to His Highness and Chairman of the Board of the hospital has stated "The inauguration of the University Hospital Sharjah in June 2011 truly signified the realisation of the vision of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qassimi, Ruler of Sharjah and Member of the Supreme Council, to provide the residents of the United Arab Emirates in general, and Sharjah in particular, with in-country access to exceptional world-class healthcare services. Achieving HIMSS Stage 6 is a major step towards realising that vision."

HIMSS Analytics first developed the EMR Adoption Model in 2005 as a methodology for evaluating the progress and impact of electronic medical record systems for hospitals in the HIMSS Analytics Database. Tracking their progress in completing eight stages (0-7), hospitals can review the implementation and utilisation of information technology applications with the intent of reaching Stage 7, which represents an advanced electronic patient record environment.

In summary, the elite hospitals that qualify for Stage 6 have achieved considerable milestones:

• They have significant executive commitments and investments to reach this stage

• They appear to have a significant advantage over competitors for patient safety, clinician support, clinician recruitment, and competitive marketing for both consumers and nurse recruitment

• They have almost fully automated/paperless medical records when they have implemented their IT applications across most of the inpatient care settings

• Thet are either starting to evaluate their data for care delivery process improvements or have already documented significant improvements in this area

• They have made investments that are within reach of most hospitals and recognize the strategic value of improving patient care with the EMR

• They have begun to create strategic alignments with their medical staff to effectively utilize information technology to improve the patient safety environment

• They are well positioned to provide data to key stakeholders, such as payers, the government, physicians, consumers, and employers, to support electronic health record environments and health information exchanges.