Doctors and nurses on a James Paget ward are ditching paper medical notes in favour of electronic records.
Staff on the Ambulatory Care Unit are using tablet computers in a trial to improve efficiency at the unit.
Research suggests that between to 15-20pc of clinical time is spent on looking for, deciphering or waiting for patient notes.
Michael Brooks, a locum doctor at the Paget, has been working on a system to allow patient information to be recorded electronically and on the move.
Dr Michael Brooks said: “Since qualifying as a doctor it struck me that healthcare IT systems tend to make life harder not easier.
“I quickly realised the only way healthcare could successfully digitalise would be if medical staff designed and built the systems themselves.”
Dr Brooks has been working alongside Dr Phil Ashworth who co-founded the company that developed the system which is called PatientSource and is being supported by software giant Microsoft.
Josip Stosic, acute medicine consultant and ambulatory care lead said: “It’s a major step towards optimising patient records and tracking. This means seeing patients more efficiently with less room for error.”
PatientSource is currently being trialled in the Ambulatory Care Unit at the Paget and the plan is to expand to other departments once any early issues have been addressed.
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