Christiana Hospital Wins Nursing I.T. Award

HDM Breaking News, February 13, 2006

Christiana Hospital, Newark, Del., has been named winner of the Nursing Information Technology Innovation Award. Health Data Management magazine developed the award in collaboration with the Maryland Technology Workgroup, a groundbreaking organization studying the use of technology to assist nurses with patient care.

The award is designed to recognize a team of nursing professionals at a U.S. health care organization (hospital, physician group practice or any other care-giving site). It honors innovation and excellence in using information technology in the field of nursing to directly improve the quality of care/patient safety and/or promote the effective use of nursing resources.

Christiana Hospital was honored for its innovative use of a passive patient and staff tracking system to improve patient flow in its emergency department, a Level 1 trauma center. The hospital uses the Amelior EDTracker system from Patient Care Technology Systems, The system incorporates RFID badges and radio frequency and infrared sensors for real-time patient, staff and asset tracking that interfaces with hospital information systems.

Since implementing the system, average length of stay in the ED has decline substantially and patient turnaround time has decreased despite an increase in patient volume. Nurses also spend more time with patients because they spend less time following up on the status of orders. Among the project leaders were Linda Laskowski-Jones, R.N., and Karen Toulson, R.N.

A total of 39 organizations submitted essays to be considered for the award. The essays were reviewed by a panel of judges that included Howard J. Anderson, publisher, Health Data Management, and three nurses who are members of the Maryland Technology Workgroup.

Christina Hospital's award-winning project will be profiled in the cover story of the March issue of Health Data Management. The story will be available at www.HealthDataManagement.com on March 1.

"Health Data Management created this award to bring well-deserved recognition to the nurses across the country who are leaders in implementing information technology," Anderson says. "The judges agree that the project at Christiana represents a truly innovative application of the latest technologies that achieved measurable results."

Health Data Management's Web site now features a Nursing I.T. portal at healthdatamanagement.com/portals/nursing. This portal includes timely news updates, links to valuable resources, plus the opportunity to sign up for a free monthly e-newsletter. For more information on the Maryland Technology Workgroup, visit http://maryland.nursetech.com/ at maryland.nursetech.com/"

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