Information technology services to improve patient safety and the quality of healthcare at Western Baptist Hospital have been recognized with a national award.

McKesson, the nation’s leading healthcare information technology company, recently awarded one of five VIP awards to Western Baptist’s parent company, Baptist Healthcare Systems, Inc.

The healthcare system was recognized for its vision, innovation and performance in using information technology solutions to improve the safety, quality and efficiency of healthcare. The corporation won a $10l000 grant for its foundation or charity of choice.

Tracy Phillips, R.N., director of the respiratory unit at Western Baptist, said McKesson’s online drug dispensing and chart documentation programs have been particularly helpful.

“From my perspective, the most important aspect of these services is patient safety,” said Phillips. “Their Admin RX program, a software program using barcode technology to scan medications prior to dispensing, is leading-edge. The nurses on this unit rely heavily on the program and find it to be quick, efficient and extremely accurate.”

Horizon Expert Documentation, an online charting system, allows nursing staff to use computers to complete assessments more quickly and store patients’ historical information for ready access.

“This has eliminated a large portion of paper used by the nurse, thus reducing the size of the patients’ charts,” said Phillips.

Mike Cromika, director of Information Services at Western Baptist, said Western Baptist has had
much success during its seven-year partnership with McKesson.

“We’ve benefited from one-stop shopping for technical support, less downtime and ultimately greater improvements in patient care,” he said.

Cromika said Western Baptist plans other healthcare technology upgrades, including a new patient registration and billing program and an automated physician orders program.