Digitization of Inpatient Medical Records Using Electronic Writing Pads in a Teaching Hospital

Deepak Betadur, G. Somu, P. Naveen Kumar*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Background The study was conducted in a large NABH accredited, 2000 bedded tertiary care teaching hospital which had footfall of 2500–3000 patients every day and 300 admissions. There was a robust system for filing of the medical records, and large manpower was employed to store, retrieve, and manage the logistics of transporting records from a central location to the respective clinics or OPDs. The clinics were spread in four building. A lot of paper usage used to occur as all the clinical notes, investigations, and prescription. Most important problem among all was that doctors not comfortable with the regular electronic medical record (EMR) solutions which involves keying in of data. All these issues called for a solution that was handwritten yet digitized. Objectives Identifying and designing an EMR solution that would match the requirements vis-a-vis doing a costing study. Methodology A standard costing study was done by researchers to identify direct labor costs, equipment costs, material costs between the two options—physical records and electronic records. The end-user challenges in using electronic records were analyzed by questionnaire. A phased implementation plan of digitization in specialty outpatient departments was coordinated. Results Cost of each paper file was INR 8.57/-using 156,223 files per year costed INR 1,338,831/-. Storage space rental value equivalent was INR 21,24,000/-. Direct salary costs of 73 employees in medical record department (MRD) is INR 13,406,844/- per year. The digitization was introduced in lesser crowded departments; first, their experiences were shared to customize the product with features in other departments. Conclusion It was found to be feasible to transform the hospital from Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) level-1 digitization to HIMSS level-2 system.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAdvances in Communication, Devices and Networking - Proceedings of ICCDN 2021
EditorsSourav Dhar, Samarendra Nath Sur, Dinh-Thuan Do, Howard Chuan-Ming Liu
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Pages279-287
Number of pages9
ISBN (Print)9789811920035
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023
Event5th International Conference on Communication, Device and Networking, ICCDN 2021 - Rangpo, India
Duration: 15-12-202116-12-2021

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Electrical Engineering
Volume902
ISSN (Print)1876-1100
ISSN (Electronic)1876-1119

Conference

Conference5th International Conference on Communication, Device and Networking, ICCDN 2021
Country/TerritoryIndia
CityRangpo
Period15-12-2116-12-21

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

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