Electronic health records becoming norm in Quebec

As hospital workers clip files and go through medical records, the amount of paper work they deal with is diminishing.

Many of them check and share patient information online through an internal database system.

It’s an achievement Quebec Health Minister Yves Bolduc called attention to on Tuesday at St-Luc Hospital.

“The information is accessible all the time, anywhere to multiple operators at the same time,” said physician Luc Valiquette.

Valiquette is thrilled that hospitals are starting to join the on-line community.

Information such as patient medical history, diagnostic treatments and prescriptions will eventually be stored in a central nerve centre known as Santé Quebec.

Accessing it is just a click away.

Hospital workers say with the technology, medical records and charts can be accessed much more efficiently.

More than half of all family doctors in Quebec are storing patient information online in an electronic format.

The government plans to get all Quebec hospitals, medical clinics and laboratories connected within the next five years.

“It’s not easy because we have to teach every professional how to use it we have to install the system. And every place is a challenge,” said Bolduc.

Physicians say the new electronic database system will allow them to assess patient needs and medical care almost instantaneously.

Dr. Jeffrey Barkun, surgeon at the MUHC, said, “It’s been one of the absolute major additions to the clinical life on our part and therefore the safety of the patients.”

Still, there are some kinks that need to be worked out.

Hospitals belonging to the MUHC and the French Teaching Network — the CHUM — still can’t instantaneously share patient information with each other.

There are certain legal constraints linked to the fact that clinical information in one hospital has to remain within hospital confines.

But those barriers are coming down.

When they do — patients and health care professionals hope the electronic system will upgrade the overall status of health care in Quebec.