Deep River's system went live on Tuesday.
The repository is known as the Northern and Eastern Ontario Diagnostic Imaging Network (NEODIN). It is one of four being developed in the province to hold electronic copies of medical images and associated diagnostic reports. Once the northern and eastern repository and network is complete, it will allow the electronic transfer of images and reports between more than 60 diagnostic imaging departments in northern and eastern Ontario.
"We are the second hub," said Terry Corbett, diagnostic imaging manager at the Deep River hospital. "For us this has been a two-and-a-half year project."
The Deep River hospital is the first hospital in Renfrew County and the sixth in Ontario to put in place the technology needed to be able to access the NEODIN repository.
"I'm very excited about this," Ms. Corbett said. "This is a big milestone and we are all very happy."
According to Ms. Corbett, the Pembroke Regional Hospital is expected to join the network within two months, followed by the Renfrew Victoria Hospital and St. Francis Memorial Hospital in Barry's Bay before the summer.
Once these facilities are online, it will enable regional sharing of diagnostic images and reports.
She said there are numerous benefits to the network and repository, the most obvious being simple convenience in that patients no longer have to worry about transporting x-rays, images and reports on CD, film or paper, between doctors.
She also said the system will allow doctors or specialists in different hospitals, in different cities, to instantly access and see information. Ms. Corbett gave the example of a patient being considered for transfer to a hospital in Ottawa. Through the use of this system, doctors in Ottawa will be able to see the same diagnostic images the doctors are seeing here and help in making the decision.
"This initiative allows us to further our mission. It enhances our ability to provide care closer to home and it allows us to continue being early adopters of innovative health care technology," Ms. Corbett said. "The DIr (diagnostic imaging repositories) will give our local physicians easier access to specialist consults from the larger hospitals and for specialists to view diagnostic imaging results ahead of time if we need to transfer a patient from emergency. This is something our hospital is very proud to provide for our patients."
According to Garry Hartlin, manager of information technology at the Deep River hospital, the repository will help eliminate the need for each hospital to manage its own data backups and redundancy. He added that data security is also of paramount importance.
"The system is very secure," he said. "Information is housed in two redundant data centres in Ontario's north and is transferred over the province's secure eHealth network infrastructure."
He said the security measures put in place are far superior to the old days when file folders were stored in large filing racks and moved between hospitals in bags.
The completion of the network in northern and eastern Ontario is still more than a year away.
It is not like throwing a big switch and turning it on.
Slowly over time, more and more hospitals and departments will be added to the system. Ms. Corbett said the inclusion of the Ottawa Hospital will make a big addition to the system, however, its participation is likely still at least a year away.
Ms. Corbett explained that over time, the network will continue to expand. In this area, first Renfrew County will be linked, then northern and eastern Ontario, and eventually the whole province. Linking northern and eastern Ontario through NEODIN is expected to be completed in 2011.
The project is part of a broader initiative to bring an electronic health record (EHR) to Ontario that will one day connect to the rest of Canada.
The project is funded by eHealth Ontario and Canada Health Infoway and is part of the Ontario government's ehealth agenda and the pan-Canadian electronic health record vision of Infoway.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Anthony Dixon
Quelle/Source: The Daily Observer, 01.05.2010
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