A HIMSS Analytics white paper released on Wednesday shows that one-third of 825 surveyed hospitals report interfacing medical devices with electronic health records, Healthcare IT News reports.
Survey Details
For the report — titled “Medical Devices Landscape: Current and Future Adoption, Integration with EMRs, and Connectivity” — researchers collected data from the hospitals between June 2009 and June 2010.
Hospitals provided information about their use of medical devices and whether the devices were interfaced with EHRs (Miliard, Healthcare IT News, 12/2).
Key Findings
Organizations that do integrate medical devices with EHRs said that the interface can reduce errors and improve clinical workflow.
According to the report:
Intelligent device hubs and physiologic monitors were most likely to be integrated with EHRs;
Most hospitals relied on a wired LAN connection as their only way of connecting EHRs and medical devices; and
8% of survey respondents said their hospital relies only on wireless connections (Stevens, Cardiovascular Business, 12/1).
