By
Health Records Service, Mater Health Service
Infinity Design Development Pty Ltd
Description
The Health Records Management System (HRMS) is designed to effectively sort, categorise, and distribute large volumes of fast moving documents in the medical industry. Designed with Mater Health Service, the System promotes an intuitive sequenced workflow that streamlines processing of health records to maximise efficiency. Faster processing of records provides tangible value to the hospital in terms of revenue, administration, service delivery and most importantly, patient care. The HRMS System Design considered the layout of multiple stages of processing, each with a unique function and OH&S; challenge. The solution provided is a well-balanced integration of system, user-experience, and product design.
Key Features
and/or Benefits
Access to a patient’s health record is critical to the delivery of care in a medical environment. If a recently discharged patient re-presents and requires urgent care, historically, the record may have been hidden amongst a sea of unsorted records held in trolleys or piled high on sorting tables making it difficult to locate quickly. Any delay in retrieval and provision of the record could be life threatening and inadequate systems inhibiting the efficient and timely sorting and processing of these health records also causes stress and friction between clinical and administration teams.
The Health Records Management System actively promotes an intuitive flow and sequence of patient records processing, emphasizing systematic and logical paths for large volumes of incoming documents. The System starts with the unitisation of the records from the collection trolleys into manageable sized tubs that are easy to lift and move and comply with OH&S; requirements in the hospital. With an initial dumping table for these tubs and an overflow shelf, patient records are able to be quickly collected and organised at a central location, and trolleys are free to be reused to collect more records from throughout the hospital.
The Health Records tubs are placed on angled stainless steel pans so the records naturally tilt towards the user, with labels at the top for urgent identification and retrieval of a record if required. Records are removed one at a time for a series of maintenance checks, labelling and coding. Then the records are pre-sorted into more tubs that determine their journey either back to file, finance or other parts of the hospital. These sorted records are then passed to the next stage of the station for data entry or scanning before repacking to trolleys for delivery to final destinations.
The system allows for up to four people to work simultaneously at the sorting station to cope with peak demand. Ergonomic factors are considered to prevent over-reaching and moving of heavy loads in awkward positions. The work-stations can be moved independently along rails to reach the middle of the table, and with adjustable monitor and keyboard positions can be operated in a seated or standing position. As the system is designed as a symmetrical work-flow system, users are encouraged to alternate between the mirrored stations to reduce physical stress commonly associated with repetitive tasks.
The Health Management System was developed through a Task Analysis of existing file management procedures and gathering insights to design and validate a new system of workflow. Apart from providing an intuitive structure of records management, careful consideration has been given towards aspects of industrial design and physical usability. This careful attention to detail has resulted in improvements for even the smallest features, from ribbed rubber anti-slip pads on the inside of the tubs, to metal rungs for dispensing adhesive labels. This results in a more efficient system, better delivery of patient care and less interdepartmental stress within the hospital.
