'missing' patient information in new corcare database is accessible to staff: nlhs
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health sciences centre in st. john's
file
newfoundland and labrador health services says patient information remains available to staff even as the health authority continues to migrate historical patient data into its new corcare database, a spokesperson for nlhs told the telegram on monday, august 10.
“during the migration, legacy systems remain fully available; health-care providers and staff continue to have access to historical patient information, including emergency contact information, where required,” the emailed statement read.
the clarification was in response to a telegram inquiry sent friday, july 31. the previous day, a retired newfoundland nurse anonymously called the telegram to say they had been told during recent hospital visits that patient information, including emergency contact information, had not migrated over to corcare.
the nurse said they’d accompanied close relatives to the emergency rooms at the health sciences centre and st. clare’s hospital in st. john’s in recent weeks. on one occasion, the source says the phone number on file was also wrong, and that an administrative clerk informed them that “meditech information didn’t transfer over to corcare.”
liberal health critic lisa dempster said she was struck by a similar situation she witnessed during a recent visit to one of the province’s emergency rooms, where a patient “in excruciating pain” was struggling to provide their personal information to the administrative clerk.
“patients should not have to discover missing information only when they arrive for care,” dempster told the telegram on wednesday, aug. 6. “if patients are constantly and repeatedly being asked to enter information the system supposedly had, it undermines their confidence in the system.”
a bumpy roll-out
corcare, an electronic patient information database, was launched province-wide in april to replace older, disjointed systems like meditech, healthenl and crsm, some of which could only be accessed by health-care professionals in certain regions of the province.
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the nlhs website says corcare is intended to replace “over 150 legacy and disconnected computer systems (such as meditech) with a single, integrated electronic medical record.”
within weeks of the corcare launch, the newfoundland and labrador medical association was sounding the alarm on issues related to its rollout, which was marked by missing lab results and referral issues.
jerry earle, president of nape, the union representing some 30,000 private and public sector workers in newfoundland and labrador, said staff at nlhs faced “incredibly tight deadlines and limited training time on this comprehensive and complex system.”
dempster says she knew there would be “tweaks and bumps in the road” when it came to the corcare rollout. still, she has questions she’d like the health minister lela evans to answer, such as whether emergency contact information was expected to migrate automatically, and what is being done to ensure patient information contained in corcare is accurate.
a spokesperson for the department of health and community services told the telegram on monday that “while the department of health and community services may speak to all matters concerning the health care of newfoundlanders and labradorians, in general, nl health services would be responsible for speaking to operational matters.”
in its aug. 10 statement, nlhs said “corcare stores patient contact information, including emergency contacts, parents, legal guardians and other designated contacts. patients can update this information themselves through myhealthnl, and registration staff also routinely confirm contact details during patient visits to help keep records current.”
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