Austria has 28 penal establishments. One of the main tasks of the Austrian penal system is to promote the re-socialisation of prisoners through education and work during the detention, as well as therapy and care.
The costs of prison healthcare are entirely supported by the Austrian Justice. The introduction of a country-wide electronic health records (EHR) system for inmates is expected to increase the quality of care while significantly cutting costs.
The introduction of EHR in the penal system brings advantages that are similar to those resulting from their use among the general population. The treating physician can access the results of the examinations conducted during the incarceration, as well as the identified risk factors. General practitioners and specialists thus have the same knowledge of the patient's condition. Likewise, since they can find out via the EHR which medication was prescribed or taken, doctors are able to identify possible drug interactions.
Moreover, there is no longer a need to forward the patient's summary in writing in case of a prison transfer, which helps to avoid performing redundant examinations. Last but not least, the EHR enhances data security.
The project for the introduction of EHR was launched in 2005. The programme should be based upon the application 'Integrated Penal Administration' for the management of inmate data, which has been operational for many years. In the framework of the evaluation phase, it has been decided under the leadership of Richard Schmid (from BRZ) to extend the existing tool by means of a new module.
The module "Doctors package" is being developed as a BRZ programme and it is made up of the following projects:
- 'Medication': medication administration, prescription and discharge (and their printing), as well as concept of roles (doctor, medical writer, etc);
- 'Medical examination conducted within the Penal Administration': emergency form, examinations and condition evolution;
- 'Medical examination performed outside of the Penal Administration': hospitalisation order, examination results;
- 'Medical organisation': doctor appointments, diet plan, forms.
Thanks to the so-called 'concept of roles' it is technically ensured that the users (physicians, medical writers, etc) can only access the data needed to perform their respective duties.
So far, the project 'Medication' has been successfully implemented in six prisons and will be rolled out until early 2010 in the remaining 22 institutions. The next projects to be implemented are 'Examinations' and 'Medical organisation'.
The aim is to provide comprehensive electronic health records for all inmates in 2011.
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Quelle/Source: epractice, 01.03.2010
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