The Electronic Medical Record (eMR)

Significant effort has gone into establishing a single patient record, taking into account the existence of established and newly evolving departmental databases. These will continue to be integrated to provide a central repository of clinical data, for example cardiology, discharge referrals, endocrinology, emergency and oncology as well as a diverse range of departmental letters. The implementation of document Imaging will also allow for the incorporation of paper based records. The ultimate aim will be to consolidate and integrate all patient information and information systems and where possible to facilitate moving to a single integrated system based on Cerner. The Children's Hospital at Westmead is a Gold member site of the Cerner Corporation in Australia. Cerner is the leading provider of health care information technology solutions designed to fundamentally transform care delivery. Cerner has more than 25 years' experience in health informatics and provides more than 30 applications to enhance clinical effectiveness and managerial efficiency in health care environments (Cerner website).

This move to an eMR continues to be seen as providing a range of benefits to patient care, from rapid access to information during clinical consultation itself, to cost savings associated with better access, to accurate and timely information. Central to this strategy is clinical ownership of the process and close collaboration between clinical groups and Information Services. (IM&T Strategy 2003 – 2007).