A COLLABORATIVE WIDE-AREA NETWORK FOR PERINATAL CARE

Purpose:
A 5 hospital region standardizes perinatal documentation by operating on one server (WAN)for Labor & Delivery; Mother/Baby; and NICU, while a Regional team (Clinical/IT) maintains operational integrity and change management for the proprietary system to standardize documentation.

Significance:
This process and outcome have enhanced communication, collegiality and ability to collect meaninful data which will enhance our ability fot quality improvement and reporting the up-coming Joint Commission perinatal core measures

Strategy and Implementation:
Addressed the need to steward Providence's resources and bridge the gap that existed between the information technology department and nursing. A gap analysis indicated that Southern California Regional Perinatal Collaborative (January, 2009) : Specialty EMR system not being used to its fullest capacity. Site tailorable allows for immediate changes in the system as new regulations occur. Parallel efforts of both the IT and Perinatal Nursing departments were needed to improve and standardize the computer documentation process. A full gap analysis of documentation systems and a cost analysis were completed. Financial support was obtained administratively followed by determination of algorithms and building a team of IT and Nursing. Project Management team included IT, Clinical & Vendor representation. Steering Committee Structure was developed.

Evaluation:
The perinatal documentation system was deployed at all five hospitals in L&D, Mother-Baby and NICU areas under budget and on-time. Collection of meaningful data has improved.

Implications for Practice:
Through standardization of documentation in the perinatal areas of five hospitals using evidence-based practice there is decreased risk of litigation, increased ability to collect accurate, meaningful data and enhanced ability to update documentation as regulatory changes or new evidence emerge.