eWARD assists in the management of care provided to hospital in-patients,
including electronic medicines management and automated production of Immediate
Discharge Documents and Nursing Transfer Documents.
eWARD can be linked to SCI Store to obtain patient demographics,
and discharge documents can be sent electronically to GPs via SCI Gateway.
Testimonial
“We have worked closely with The Solution Works to implement and extend eWARD
to meet the evolving needs of NHS Forth Valley. The Solution Works are responsive
and their flexible collaborative approach enables us to achieve our goals, and the
software is good quality and user-friendly.” Liam
Coughlan, eHealth Project Manager, NHS Forth Valley
Awards
eWARD is at the centre of a revised pharmacy workflow at NHS Forth Valley, enabling increased efficiency and effectiveness of the Pharmacy team to such an extent that NHS Forth Valley has received recognition for its achievements in innovation and patient safety by winning the coveted Patient Safety Initiative of the Year award for 2009 at The Pharmas Awards, which recognise excellence in UK pharmacy, and by reaching the finals of the Scottish Health Awards 2008.
History
The Solution Works has enjoyed a long working relationship, first with Falkirk and
District Royal Infirmary (since 1994) and then with NHS Forth Valley.
TSW developed the well-regarded Delta system (for automating the production of Immediate
Discharge Letters and Nursing Transfer Documents), which was implemented in FDRI
in 1994 and used until 2006 when it was replaced by eWARD. TSW
was also involved in the ongoing development of FDRI's MatSys maternity system,
which was in use at FDRI from 1992 until 2001, when it was replaced by the new Maternity
System.
eWARD was developed by The Solution Works in consultation with
NHS Forth Valley as a replacement for Delta using more modern tools and technologies.
The Maternity System was also developed by The Solution Works (using the same tools
and technologies as eWARD) in collaboration with NHS Forth Valley
and NHS Scotland and shares many core modules with eWARD. Maternity
is Crown Copyright in Scotland and is available free to all NHS hospitals in Scotland.
Implementation Goals and Objectives
NHS Forth Valley implemented eWARD in 2006 with the primary goal
of improving patient care and safety, via the following objectives:
- Reducing the risk of medication-related errors
- Providing a clear and accurate Immediate Discharge Letter
The Solution Works worked closely with the eHealth Programme Office, Pharmacy Department,
Medical and Administrative staff from NHS Forth Valley to configure and extend the
functionality of eWARD to enable these objectives to be achieved.
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Project
In 2006 NHS Forth Valley implemented eWARD in Falkirk and District
Royal Infirmary (replacing Delta) and Stirling Royal Infirmary (where no similar
computer system was available previously).
As part of the implementation, working practices were standardised across the hospitals,
and NHS Forth Valley was closely involved in the development of new pharmacy and
discharge workflow functionality for eWARD, including integration
with SCI Gateway to enable electronic transmission of discharge documents to GPs.
eWARD provides flexible support for NHS Forth Valley's working
practices, enabling staff to work efficiently and effectively, focusing on patient
care and is well-regarded by the large user base in NHS Forth Valley.
New Features
NHS Forth Valley continues to work closely with The Solution Works on the expansion
of eWARD, including:
- Integration with label and barcode printing software to enable printing of patient
wristbands, form and specimen labels for laboratory requests, and mailing labels
- Medication reconciliation on admission
- Electronic signature capture for collection of discharge prescriptions using tablet
PCs (e.g. Motion Computing’s C5 based on Intel’s Mobile Clinical Assistant architecture)
- A pilot project to electronically transmit Immediate Discharge Letters to patients'
GPs via SCI Gateway
- Hospital at Night Team – Handover, Tasks, and Overnight Referrals
Other developments are in the pipeline as eWARD grows from strength
to strength in NHS Forth Valley.
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Benefits
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Benefit
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Description
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Reduced Prescription Waiting Times
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The prescription workflow functionality provided by eWARD has enabled
NHS Forth Valley to reduce waiting times for discharge prescriptions by 50%, with
90% of prescriptions ready in under two hours of the request.
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Improved Immediate Discharge Letter (IDL)
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GPs in Forth Valley have been impressed by the improvements in the quality, clarity,
and consistency that the new Immediate Discharge Letter (IDL) generated by
eWARD provides compared with the previous manually-produced discharge
letters.
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Fewer GP queries / reduced administrative time
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Stopped drugs and the reasons why they were stopped are now shown clearly on the
discharge letter. Along with other improvements in the IDL this has resulted in
significantly fewer queries from GPs regarding the content of discharge letters,
saving secretaries time tracking down case notes and/or consultants to clarify issues.
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Remote access to patient information
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Remote access to patients' notes and episode details enabling pharmacists to access
information from their office instead of having to physically be on the ward.
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Systematic approach
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Systematic approach to patient care, integrating the work of medical, nursing and
paramedical staff, enabling more effective collaboration and saving time.
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Improved efficiency
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eWARD improves efficiency in managing the investigation and care
of ward inpatients.
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Current and Possible Future Developments
NHS Forth Valley continues to work closely with The Solution Works on the expansion
of eWARD, including:
- Nursing Handover (under development)
- Bed Management
- Integration with Electronic Document Management