This month, after the launch of Partners eCare, we’re asking BWHers to share with us the ways in which Partners eCare has or will improve day-to-day life, and to share their reflections on the first few weeks with Partners eCare in place.

“We’ve heard about several benefits of Partners eCare from our staff. Nurses have reported that the ability to see a patient’s medical record prior to the patient’s arrival has made them well prepared to provide care. Another great benefit is the ability to find information all in one place. Nurses do not have to look for multiple pieces of paper to gather what they need. Although there is still a learning curve to navigating in PeC, all of the information is there.  Another advantage is that many clinicians can view a record at the same time. Finally, PeC offers the benefit of being able to see real time vital sign data with biomedical device integration.”

-Anne Bane, MS, RN, Nurse Director for Clinical Systems Innovations

“Partners eCare’s reporting functionality promises to be incredibly robust, and we are now going to have access to more helpful and timely data than previously. I definitely have seen improvements over the previous system. There is a higher fidelity of the dictation system, with fewer transcription errors and more efficient use of templates. Partners eCare has also brought a lot more collaboration and communication with other Partners facilities, and it offers more staffing flexibility to other clinical sites without adding new training. It’s a relief that we are now looking at the launch through the rearview mirror, and now we can be the experts for other facilities.”

-Christopher Baugh, MD, MBA, Medical Director of Emergency Department Operations and Observation Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine

“For the large majority of lab orders, the clinical labs used to receive paper requisitions, from which we had to manually enter the needed tests into the lab computer system. Partners eCare now electronically sends lab orders directly into to the clinical lab computer system. This allows the clinical labs to simply scan a barcode on the sample and our instruments automatically know what tests to perform.”

-William Lane, MD, PhD, Director of Clinical Lab Informatics and Assistant Director of the Tissue Typing Lab, Department of Pathology

“We’ve been waiting for it, preparing for it, and it’s finally here. People are upbeat, and we know there are going to be problems, but that’s OK. They’re fixable. Spiritual Care Services is excited about Partners eCare. It’s a way to integrate us more fully as part of a team. We’ve really worked together as an interdisciplinary unit on a lot of preparing for Partners eCare. It’s been great working in this method and meeting new people.”

Kathleen Gallivan, SNDdeN, PhD, director of Spiritual Care Services

“As a practice manager for General Surgical Specialties, Partners eCare will make tracking my clinic and employees’ productivity many times easier. Everything from collecting co-pays to seeing how long a patient has been waiting is right at my finger tips. The administrative staff can see all the information they could possibly need about a patient right in one system. I used to have to get a new employee access to eight different systems when they started.  Now they just need one.  SO much easier to train and set up. It just makes more sense.”

-Nick Pierce, Practice Manager, General Surgical Specialties

“On the day of the launch event, what was most inspiring was the way everyone stepped up and faced the challenge head on with a very positive, ‘we can do this’ attitude. People were all helping each other to solve problems and learn the system. One nursing director commented to me that she thought the launch of Partners eCare has brought her unit closer together because they’ve been helping each other so much.”

-Ron Walls, MD, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer