CHUM connects biomed equipment to EMRs

MONTREAL – The Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) is pleased to have acquired the Patient Connect interface, a solution allowing it to connect its biomedical equipment to computer patient records. The system makes it possible to collect the vital signs of hospitalized patients in real-time and integrate them directly into their electronic medical records.

The CHUM acquired the solution from Purkinje, an integrator of IT systems, and its partner Enovacom, which specializes in interoperability solutions.

“In the context of the current health crisis, this technology is all the more relevant as it improves the safety of the patient and of the caregivers who can now monitor the patient remotely. The Patient Connect interface supports the work of our teams by optimizing their tasks,” said Joanne Guay (pictured), director of information technology and telecommunications at the CHUM.

Where the system has been implemented, teams no longer need to take notes and manually transcribe the clinical data that is captured and placed in the patient’s file. In this way, nurses save time and can devote themselves entirely to providing quality patient care.

Since June, the interface has gradually been deployed in certain departments of the CHUM, with priority given to units dedicated to COVID-19.

Previously, in 2019, the Montreal Heart Hospital installed a similar system from Enovacom. Middleware from Marseille-based Enovacom helps automate the transcription of data from MHI’s Maquet Servo-I mobile ventilators into the hospital’s electronic health record and onto the nurses’ handheld tablets.

This saves time over writing the information down and re-entering it into the patients’ electronic health records and other hospital systems. It also prevents transcription errors.

In the era of COVID-19, it means nurses and other caregivers need to spend less time at the patient bedside collecting information manually, as the data can be automatically loaded into the electronic health record.