Forget about big files, how 'bout eradicating bad penmanship?<g>
CareGroup Healthcare System
Boston,MA
When six hospitals formed CareGroup in 1996, the Internet era was just dawning. In the past five years, Web-based applications have become a vital resource for its one million patients and 3,000 doctors throughout eastern Massachusetts. In its new state-of-the-art emergency room at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the boundaries of medicine and technology are yielding to faster, wireless, instantly updated records. The days of paper charts and clipboards are numbered.
Chief Medical Information Officer Dr. John Halamka oversees this enterprise and has been the primary architect of a Web-based link for clinical information that connects doctor offices, insurance companies and hospitals across a 500-square-mile territory. In all, the group has more than 13,000 employees and 3,000 medical staff across Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, New England Baptist Hospital in Boston, Deaconess-Glover Hospital in Needham, Deaconess-Waltham Hospital in Waltham, and Deaconess-Nashoba Hospital in Ayer.
Using disk-based storage databases for application development is just one ongoing capability. Dr. Halamka’s vision has been to make data as available and secure as possible, capitalizing on handheld computers, wireless 802.11(b) networks and instantly updated information —-called the patient dashboard —- avoiding the need for doctors and nurses to synch laptops or handhelds with a cradle or docking station.
Patient lab test results are immediately added electronically to patient charts, avoiding delays for treating physicians and allowing more complete data to be shared faster. At a major trauma center hospital, there is no down time. And when storing patient records, there is no margin for error. A new Web-based order-entry system allows doctors to place prescription requests electronically and is linked to patient medical records, warning medical staff of possible drug interactions or past allergies, he says. This crucial data is supported by EMC disk-based, mirrored storage to ensure its speed and reliability.
The system reduces errors that are prevalent with hand-written prescriptions —- since doctors are known for poor penmanship. The change eliminated 90 percent of medication errors on just one floor of the flagship Boston hospital.
“We mirror about five terabytes of mission-critical data across 150 server platforms, ”Halamka says. “Mainframes for
billing and general finance systems; 14 UNIX systems for clinical care and administrative systems, and 135 Intel/ Windows NT systems for data warehousing, decision support, e-mail and office productivity. Since September 11 we’ve moved our backup data to an offsite location on a daily basis —- previously we moved it offsite two or three times a week.”
Centers for Disease Control
Atlanta,GA
Another day at work is hardly routine at the Centers for Disease Control. As a lead federal agency for protecting the health and safety of people at home and abroad, this organization is charged with providing credible information to enhance health decisions. Scientists collect data, perform tests and share results with labs and public health workers around the world. More than 8,500 employees throughout the United States frequently need to communicate vital information to local public health partners, its clinical partners, remote offices, the press and the public.
The fast-moving investigation into anthrax-contaminated mail in Fall 2001 tested the agency’s ability to share
updated information, even with the most modern tools such as the agency’s website.
Delivering information to frontline clinicians during investigations of multiple anthrax cases was critical. And it meant millions of increased visits to its website; from 3.6 million daily in August to 9.1 million after the first cases were announced October 4. In November, Web traffic remained high, but declined to 5.25 million unique daily visitors.
Public health involves tight cooperation between many different organizations, but frequently, the CDC does definitive tests. “During the anthrax activity, our number of Web visits went up dramatically,” said Dr.John Loonsk, the CDC’s Associate Director for Informatics and manager for the central IT organization. “It showed us the need for enhanced emergency capabilities. One of the important things is getting information out and our website is increasingly important.”
CDC wanted redundant backup for its Microsoft Exchange and SQL Server operations to ensure quicker, more efficient
knowledge/information management and criticalinfrastructure protection. The Centers’ partners and colla-borators require a 7x24x365 environment. Disease management allows near-immediate notification of outbreaks and minute-by-minute monitoring of possible cases.
A storage network infrastructure, using EMC’s CLARiiON disk-based hardware and software, allows doctors and health
officials to communicate quickly, securely, and without delay while safeguarding internal data and patient information. In the business world,costs are reduced when core administrative and scientific operating cycles are reduced. For the CDC, efficiencies in send-receive-confirm cycles allow faster information transfer among health agencies — leading to quicker communication of test results and more complete Web data posted by the Centers. The CDC required a mirrored back-up environment in a remote location to maintain business continuance. |
