Going_All_Digital

Going All-Digital Going All-Digital Pepin Heart Hospital in Tampa, Florida wanted to go all-digital even with all the challenges it could face (Weimar, 2009, p. 2). Administrations wanted to improve the technology at the hospital and also wanted to keep improving the quality of patient care. The concept of the hospital was to provide a warm, friendly, and inviting environment. For patient privacy, the hospital has separate public areas and waiting rooms on one side and on the other side areas for the patient rooms. Even with all the advances with technology, going paperless for a hospital can be difficult. Even with all the complications Pepin Heart Hospital of a 125 opened its doors in 2006 to patients (Weimar, 2009, p. 2). An all-digital hospital had never been done until Pepin Heart Hospital. With this new concept problems could occur. The new heart hospital needed five years to raise the capital. To obtain the $35 million for this project could be challenging because it is difficult for a hospital come up with that much money (Weimar, 2009, p. 2). Partnership and buy-in have to take place for an enormous project like this to be built. Partnership was created, GE Centricity, which is involved with EMR technology (Weimar, 2009, p. 2). After the capital was figured out with GE involved wanted to change the operation that was already started. Pepin Hospital had to start all over again. Another problem was getting the doctors to be willing to use the new technology (Weimar, 2009, p. 2). To overcome problems with the doctors GE engineers were brought into the hospital. The engineers had to spend days with the doctors and nurses to observe their routines (Weimar, 2009, p. 2). Project managers incorporating this information into the construction design help the physicians use technology better. Another problem was the computer screens were too small for the physicians and nurses to track patient information bedside. The company that Pepin computers came from went out of business and was based in the UK (Weimar, 2009, p. 3). After all the research was conducted physician’s time was cut down to 45 seconds, which was good because most of the physicians had to log in 30 times or more during their shift (Weimar, 2009, p. 3). For the computer screens, a home base company is used to help with the maintenance and saving cost. With the new system there are TV and web cams that are also used where physicians can watch surgery taking place. With the technology physicians can get to patient documents easier which helps feel up administration tasks and focus on the patients needs (Weimar, 2009, p. 3). The Pepin Heart Hospital has become a success and visitors from China, Europe and all over the world come to the first all digital hospital. References Weimar, C. (2009). Going All-Digital is Easier Said than Done Physician Executive, 35 (2), 20-22. Retrieved September 19, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1676226041).