RESUMEN

Frequent, preventable medical errors can have an adverse effect on patient safety and quality as well as leading to wasted resources. In the laboratory, errors can occur at any stage of sample processing; pre-analytical, analytical, and post analytical stages. However evidence shows most of the laboratory errors occur during the pre-analytical stage. The receipt and processing of specimens is one of the main steps in the pre-analytical stage. Errors in this stage could be due to mislabeling, incorrect test entry and entering the wrong location, among other reasons. Most of these errors are preventable. At the Riyadh Regional Laboratory of the Ministry of Health, we found that there was an average of 2.31 errors per 1000 processed samples; these errors had occurred during the pre-analytical stage. These samples were returned back from other laboratory departments, such as Chemistry, Hematology and Microbiology, to the receiving and processing department. We decided to carry out an improvement project where we applied a systematic approach to identify and analyse the root causes of the problem using quality tools such as a process flowchart and a fish-bone diagram. The Model for Improvement was used and several PDSA (Plan, Do, Study, Act) cycles were run to test interventions which aimed to prevent laboratory processing errors and mistakes. The project results showed a 25% reduction in errors during the pre-analytical stage.

RESUMEN

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the experience of implementing innovative information technology to improve the quality of services in one of the largest Intensive Care Units in Saudi Arabia. The Intensive Care Units in King Saud Medical City (ICU-KSMC) is the main ICU in the kingdom that represents the Ministry of Health. KSMC's ICU is also considered one of the largest ICU in the world as it consists of six units with 129 beds. Leaders in KSMC's ICU have introduced and integrated three information technologies to produce powerful, accurate, and timely information systems to overcome the challenges of the ICU nature and improve the quality of service to ensure patients' safety. By 2015, ICU in KSMC has noticed a remarkable improvement in: beds' occupation and utilization, staff communication, reduced medical errors, and improved departmental work flow, which created a healthy professional work environment. Yet, ICU in KSMC has ongoing improvement projects that include future plans for more innovative information technologies' implementation in the department.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the Saudi experience in implementing Electronic Lab Information Exchange (ELIE) within healthcare organizations in Saudi Arabia. This paper reviews the benefits, challenges and achievements that Saudi Arabia has gone through over the last five years in implementing ELIE. Data sources included academic literature, websites, and informant interviews. Results show that various Saudi healthcare organizations are participating in ELIE and improvements in laboratory department workflow and patient care have been reported. Future work includes projects to be implemented in different laboratories within the Kingdom to link the various laboratory information systems to Electronic Health Records. Various challenges stand in the way of implementing ELIE including weakness of the information infrastructure, staff resistance, recruiting qualified staff to develop and implement ELIE, producing clear policy and procedures to ensure staff compliance with the data entry, ensuring the privacy and integrity of patient data, and the lack of awareness on the importance of ELIE.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

This paper is aiming to briefly discuss the role of health surveillance system in strengthening public health at both the local and global level and the use of health informatics in effectively creating a database of health status for the population of Saudi Arabia. This review will specifically focus on the challenges that face the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in order to effectively implement surveillance programs making use of advances in health information technology. Data collection was performed through a web-based retrieval of reports and articles and via an interview with an epidemiologist in the Saudi Ministry of Health Surveillance unit. Based on the results of this research, it was found that the use of technology has led to an improvement in communication between various stakeholders (e.g. clinicians, epidemiologists, and decision makers) by providing timely and accurate information needed for informed decision making. However, implementing an ideal model of surveillance systems in Saudi Arabia faces many challenges particularly in training healthcare providers to be qualified and competent enough to ensure the successful implementation of a disease surveillance system.

Asunto(s)