2013 Volume 14 Issue 2 Pages 72-75
Out of approximately 8,700 hospitals nationwide, about 800 high-volume hospitals with more than 400 beds have been steadily introducing electronic medical record (EMR). It has a possibility of changes in outpatient congestion and/or consultation behavior at the induction period of EMR, because most hospitals transfer to EMR from paper record without transition period.
In 2008, University Hospital, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine also introduced EMR without transition period and no limitation of the consultation for outpatient department (OPD) was done. We ascribed 2012 to stabilized period of EMR. And we examined retrospectively if changes in outpatient congestion and/or consultation behavior could have occurred at the induction period by comparing their parameters to those at the stabilized period.
Both in induction and stabilized periods, significantly low levels of outpatient number and time spent in hospital for OPD were noted on Fridays. In both periods, even when small number of patients visited the OPD, their time spent in hospital was not always shorter than the others. In fact, trend had persisted that the later the patients visited our hospital, the smaller the number of patients waiting, and the shorter the time spent in hospital. Time spent in hospital for OPD was significantly longer in stabilized period when comparing to the induction period. However, when adjusted by outpatient number, duration was almost the same in both periods.
At the time of EMR induction, congestion degree seemed to have no change according to the day and time, even in university hospitals without limiting outpatients.
