Development of the Integrated Patient Information System for the Geriatric Day Hospital at the QEII
Date
2012-05-01
Authors
Fisher, Tracey
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The internship was completed at the Geriatric Medicine Research Unit in the Veteran’s
Memorial Building in Halifax. The internship work was performed from June 1st to August
31st, 2008. The internship objective was to design and develop two modules in a relational
database that would track the patients’ function and mobility. Information was gathered though
staff meetings, observing work flow and surveys to gather the team’s thoughts and ideas about
how to create these modules that are user friendly and complimentary to their current workflow
and processes.
During the course of the internship, a major problem arose in trying to separate the data into
logical modules. Shadowing GDH team members found a large area of redundancy when
collecting patient data. However once addressed, the issue was solved by looking deeper into
what data was needed and how the Integrated Patient Information System could help. Once each
team member had solidified the data they needed to collect and the data they needed access to, it
became clear that using an online central repository would solve the issues.
This report outlines how the requirements were gathered and merged, how the module
construction began and hurdles that were encountered and dealt with. The report will first
provide an overview of the Geriatric Day Hospital (GDH) and the Geriatric Medicine Research
Unit (GMRU). It then outlines specifically how the internship related to Health Informatics and
suggestions for improving the data collection and knowledge sharing in Geriatric Medicine in the
QEII are included at the end.
The internship performed at the GMRU was a valuable learning experience that allowed the
author to apply the knowledge and skills obtained through the Master of Health Informatics
program. Being immersed in such an environment not only stimulated critical thinking and
ideas, it gave the author the opportunity to put skills learned to the test to develop effective
solutions for issues around health information and data. The Integrated Patient Information
System will continue to grow as more modules are designed and the author has begun collecting
lessons learned from previous construction of modules. The GDH team has taken a solid and
iii
dedicated investment in the tool, continue to be open to change and have worked very hard at
identifying their processes and workflows to create structured requirements for each module.
Description
Internship Report - Summer 2008
Keywords
Geriatrics, Module development, Function, Mobility