Critical Access Hospital

Implemented an interactive video-conferencing system at rural hospitals to provide continuing education for pharmacist and pharmacy technicians as well as a model for bedside verification of medication administration and medication bar coding; also evaluated structure, process, and outcomes related to improvement of patient safety and more effective patient medication management.

Implemented a Complete Medical Record (a computerized emergency department communication, documentation, passive tracking, and medical records system) in an emergency department and evaluated the use of this technology toward improving patient safety and quality of care.

Documented the patient safety and health care quality challenges in critical access to rural hospitals, and assessed health IT capacity in these rural hospitals and how they would use health IT to improve safety and quality; developed decisionmaking health IT toolkits for other rural hospitals.

Developed a regional health IT strategic plan between 28 health care providers, including a comprehensive needs assessment of all of the participating organizations, prioritization of needs, identification of health IT solutions to prioritized needs, and development of appropriate implementation plans.

Planned, developed, and implemented health IT to assist local rural communities improve health care access, build local and regional resources to monitor the quality of health care, and expand the use of health IT educational, communication, and clinical applications.

Explored health IT as a method of sharing patient information and developed an electronic health record for patients who utilize rural, urban, acute, and rehabilitation facilities.

Expanded the reporting of medical errors and near misses, monitored safety event reporting, and developed a learning network among small, rural hospitals and their associated ambulatory care facilities, long-term care facilities, and home health agencies.

Created a detailed assessment of the feasibility of health IT implementation including the development of an implementation plan, specification of clinical and organizational needs, identification of goals, and identification of barriers and ways to address those barriers.

Shared an electronic medical records system that improved patient safety and quality of care. Also served as a critical learning tool for clinicians in a coalition of three large health organizations and 24 primary care clinics in northern Iowa.

Assessed opportunities to decrease adverse drug events and medication errors in frontier Montana Critical Access Hospitals; identified appropriate, cost effective health IT solutions to challenges in medication use.