The Blood and Marrow Transplant Program continues to improve use of the electronic health record. In late Spring of 2009, we implemented a new electronic patient care planning tool to better support interdisciplinary team communication and documentation.
 
The BMT Program at University of Minnesota Medical Center has many different protocols and treatments to offer patient. We have designed electronic order sets to assist our team with managing the treatment protocols that they select for each patient. These order sets help our physicians and providers manage patient care more efficiently. Rather than having to input individual orders, the physician or provider can select electronic order sets and then make individual changes if needed. We currently have developed more than 200 order sets!

In addition, our team will be soon be implementing an electronic tracking tool. This tool will help support coordination of patient care when we discharge patients from the hospital and if we readmit them.  

We take our medications seriously!
The BMT program continually tracks and reviews medication errors. The goal is to reduce potential errors and  understand what processes may need to improve. Since the implementation of our electronic orders and medication record in 2008, the adult BMT program virtually eliminated transcription errors. Transcripitons errors occur when we need to copy medication orders from one place to another. These types of errors historically made up a significant percentage of all the reported errors. We have significantly reduced the number of medication errors by eliminating the need to transcribe or orders or recopy mediation records.
 
  
Patient Handoff Communication 
Improvements in handoff communication can enhance patient safety. This past year, the adult BMT unit implemented a tool used by the aviation industry to promote handoff communication. The tool, called SBAR, has 4 required areas (Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation). Care providers must address each of these areas when the care of a patient is transfered from one provider to another. This can happen during a change of shift, transfer of a patient from one area to another, patient discharge, and when reporting patient concerns to a physician. 

Another tool, a digital phone, has also increased communication between staff and between patients and staff. We implemented the phone system in Spring, 2009. The phone allows immediate access for patient-to-staff communication. This helps ensure that patient care delivery is efficient and timely. In addition, the phone allows staff to quickly contact one another as the need for assistance may arise. This helps facilitate more effective teamwork.