Some of the most senior anaesthetists in Queensland are set to go public with serious concerns about the roll-out of a new anaesthetics module as part of the state's integrated electronic medical record (ieMR), saying the new solution does not have the capability of the existing WinChart system, implemented a number of years ago for the state's Automated Anaesthetic Record Keeping (AARK) program.
Queensland Health is currently trialling the new module – the SurgiNet anaesthesia application from Cerner – through the Medications, Anaesthetics and Research Support (MARS) program being piloted at the country's first major hospital to go digital, Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital (PAH).
It is set to then be rolled out to other hospitals using the advanced ieMR including Cairns and Townsville. Pulse+IT understands that senior anaesthetists from Mackay, Logan, Bundaberg, QEII and Toowoomba hospitals have been told that they must implement the solution, despite a widespread belief that it is inferior to WinChart and other perioperative solutions on the market.
