An on-site 24-7 command centre, an urgent care centre and more than 100 additional staff are in place as Victoria General Hospital prepares to go fully digital on Saturday morning.
At 7 a.m., physicians and nurses will begin entering all instructions, medication, lab and radiology requests digitally.
The shift at Victoria General to a fully computerized system for ordering tests and medications follows a similar move at Royal Jubilee Hospital in June, and at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital in 2016.
Two units of Gorge Road Health Centre are also going through the switchover on Saturday, while the South Island Surgical Centre is set to make the change when it reopens after the weekend on Monday.
“Everything’s looking good,” said Marko Peljhan, Island Health’s vice-president of clinical services for central and south Vancouver Island. “So far, we’re finding ourselves in a better position than we were at the Jubilee when we ran into a couple of delays and ended up going live at 8 a.m.”
Peljhan said the new system will reduce the number of errors and improve team communication. “It’s going have a huge impact to patient safety.”
He said extra physicians and nurses, pharmacists and technicians, IT experts and support staff have been trained and are ready for the transition. “Staff are anxious, absolutely — this is a big change, it’s a big change to their workflows.”
Outpatient clinics as well as surgeries and out-patient procedures have been reduced to allow clinicians to adjust to the new system. An extra 20 minutes has been added to some procedures to ensure clinicians have extra time to order tests and send instructions.
“We are open, we’re expecting some delays as part of transition, not only through the weekend, but for these first couple of weeks in particular,” said Peljhan.
Island Health is encouraging people who need emergency care to continue to call 911 or visit Victoria General Hospital.
For less-urgent matters, however, the health authority encourages patients to seek care through their family doctors, walk-in clinics or Urgent and Primary Care Centres, by calling HealthLink 811, visiting a pharmacist for minor ailments, and visiting for other options.
An urgent care centre is already in place as an extension of the hospital’s emergency department to take less-urgent overflow patients throughout the transition this weekend and for the next few weeks.
Most hospitals on Vancouver Island already keep an electronic health record on patient histories. The change, now called “computer provider order entry,” will see clinicians ordering medications and tests via computers rather than written notes.
The next sites due to change to the new system include Saanich Peninsula Hospital, Cowichan District Hospital, and Comox and Campbell River hospitals.
Timelines have not yet been finalized and Royal Jubilee and Victoria General’s electronic systems first have to be stabilized before moving on to the next site.
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