effect of integrating short messaging services' reminders with electronic medical records on non-attendance rates

To measure the effect of integrating short messaging service [SMS] reminders with an electronic medical record [EMR] system on non-attendance rates in outpatient clinics in a Saudi hospital. Pre- and post- observational studies were conducted at King Abdulaziz Medical City and National Guard Health Affairs, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from January 2010 and March 2010. Data collected from 16 out-patient clinics included the number of non-attended appointments at the clinics in a 3-month period [March-May] in 2 consecutive years: pre-implementation of SMS appointment reminders in 2008 and post-implementation in 2009. The mean non-attendance rates for the 16 outpatient clinics during 2008 were 23.9% [SD 0.0578] and for 2009 were 19.8% [SD 0.0386] with a 4.1% [p<0.001, T-value = 4.81] reduction rate. Integrating SMS reminders with EMR systems showed a positive effect on the reduction of the non-attended appointments at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Implementation of computerized physician order entry in National Guard hospitals: assessment of critical success factors

The purpose of this study is to describe the needs, process and experience of implementing a computerized physician order entry [CPOE] system in a leading healthcare organization in Saudi Arabia. The National Guard Health Affairs [NGHA] deployed the CPOE in a pilot department, which was the intensive care unit [ICU] in order to assess its benefits and risks and to test the system. After the CPOE was implemented in the ICU area, a survey was sent to the ICU clinicians to assess their perception on the importance of 32 critical success factors [CSFs] that was acquired from the literature. The project team also had several meetings to gather lessons learned from the pilot project in order to utilize them for the expansion of the project to other NGHA clinics and hospitals. The results of the survey indicated that the selected CSFs, even though they were developed with regard to international settings, are very much applicable for the pilot area. The top three CSFs rated by the survey respondents were: The "before go-live" training, the adequate clinical resources during implementation, and the ordering time. After the assessment of the survey and the lessons learned from the pilot project, NGHA decided that the potential benefits of the CPOE are expected to be greater the risks expected. The project was then expanded to cover all NGHA clinics and hospitals in a phased approach. Currently, the project is in its final stages and expected to be completed by the end of 2011. The role of CPOE systems is very important in hospitals in order to reduce medication errors and to improve the quality of care. In spite of their great benefits, many studies suggest that a high percentage of these projects fail. In order to increase the chances of success and due to the fact that CPOE is a clinical system, NGHA implemented the system first in a pilot area in order to test the system without putting patients at risk and to learn from mistakes before expanding the system to other areas. As a result of the pilot project, NGHA developed a list of CSFs to increase the likelihood of project success for the expansion of the system to other clinics and hospitals. The authors recommend a future study for the CPOE implementation to be done that covers the implementation in all the four NGHA hospitals. The results of the study can then be generalized to other hospitals in Saudi Arabia

Implementation of computerized physician order entry [CPOE] towards patient safety in Saudi hospitals

In the last 10 to 15 years, the healthcare industry has clearly shifted its focus from implementing financial information systems to clinical information systems in order to improve outcomes, reduce medication errors, increase healthcare efficiency, and eliminate unnecessary costs. This paper describes the experience of one of the leading health organization in Saudi Arabia in implementing a Computerized Physician Order Entry [CPOE] solution to meet patient safety measures. The realized benefits gained from the CPOE implementation are explained and the lessons learned are discussed. The paper also explains the main Critical Success Factors [CSF] used to increase the likelihood of project success