Cambridge University Hospitals NHS FT has achieved the highest international quality standard for the use of technology, data and analytics to support the delivery of inpatient care.
CUH is now the first healthcare trust in the UK to achieve ‘Stage 7’, the highest rating of the HIMSS Analytics international Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM).
The assessment was held virtually on Thursday 15 and Friday 16 October 2020, when HIMSS inspectors observed clinical staff from various areas of Addenbrooke’s and The Rosie.
The Trust uses Epic as its electronic patient record system and in 2015 was validated against Stage 6 of the model, achieved within a year of use of the electronic patient record. In October 2018, CUH became the first in the UK to successfully attest against the Stage 6 standards, which were made considerably harder earlier that year.
Dr Afzal Chaudhry, Consultant Nephrologist and Director of Digital at CUH, said: “A tremendous amount of work has taken place across our hospitals over the past six years, since we implemented our Trust-wide Epic electronic patient record system and integrated technologies, to transform and better support how we provide care to our patients.”
“In 2014 we successfully moved away from using paper patient records and introduced fully digital ways of documenting patient care and accessing clinical information to better support patient care and safety.”
“Today over 99 per cent of all of our clinical activity is recorded within patients’ electronic health record within our Trust-wide Epic system, in real-time, using integrated computers, handheld and mobile devices.”
“We are absolutely delighted to be formally recognised as a Stage 7 trust – an accolade currently held by only six other European healthcare institutions. This recognition reflects how our clinicians and clinical teams across our hospitals are using advanced technologies, data and analytics, as part of their everyday clinical practice to support the care that they give to our patients.”
During the inspection, demonstrations included medication administration, specimen collection, the administration of communally stored human milk, and blood transfusion – all of which are key components of EMRAM Stage 7.
Dr Chaudhry explains: “In all 51 of our inpatient wards, all five critical care areas and across our emergency department, we use technology to scan for safety. This involves our nurses using mobile devices at the bedside to scan barcodes on patient identity wristbands and medications – both of which are linked to patients’ records within our Epic system – to ensure that the right medications and dose are administered to the right patients, in the right way, and at the right time…each and every time.”
“Our clinicians also scan identity barcodes when collecting blood samples from patients, when undertaking blood transfusions, and when administering communally stored expressed human milk to babies; again to ensure patient safety.”
The HIMSS Analytics eight-stage (0-7) EMRAM incorporates methodology and algorithms to assess hospitals around the world with respect to the clinical and operational adoption of technology in the delivery of high-quality care.
