As the demand for and complexity of cardiovascular care increases, healthcare providers are turning to technology for solutions that enable clinicians to work more efficiently. When the 460-bed Sant’ Andrea University Hospital in Rome, Italy was faced with increasing demand to manage more patients and data within its multidisciplinary clinical pathway for cardiovascular disease, the hospital knew it needed a cardiovascular IT (CVIT) solution. To meet their needs, Sant’ Andrea University Hospital collaborated with GE HealthCare to deploy Centricity™ Cardio Enterprise. Marta Belmonte, MD, Sant’ Andrea University Hospital and University of Rome La Sapienza, shares key strategies the hospital used to successfully roll out the new processes and technology.
Clearly defining the goals
Because Sant’ Andrea University Hospital relies on research and innovation to continuously improve patient care, turning to technology to address the challenges related to increased demand for cardiovascular care aligned with the organization’s mission. Recognizing the need to unify around a common set of goals to kick off the initiative, a multi-disciplinary team at Sant’ Andrea established these shared objectives:
- Improve users’ experiences by prioritizing the use of technology to increase efficiency and save clinicians’ time.
- Elevate patient care by leveraging efficient IT to improve clinical practice and research.
- Streamline hospital management by applying technology to boost departmental productivity, improve resource utilization, and support physicians.
Using a collaborative approach to meet objectives
Sant’ Andrea University Hospital chose a CVIT system that could deliver a single comprehensive solution to address their cardiovascular care delivery needs. As Dr. Belmonte explained, “Centricity™ Cardio Enterprise can support each step of the patient journey, from the first medical contact to the follow-up. On a single platform, clinicians can find all the information required to make a diagnosis.”
With an integrated Cardiovascular PACS (Centricity Universal Viewer) and Information System (Centricity Cardio Workflow), the hospital can now:
- Bridge gaps between care areas and healthcare information systems.
- Utilize a single point of access for patient data, waveforms, images, analysis tools, and physician reports across the cardiovascular care pathway.
- Increase efficiencies and improve access to images and data with powerful end-to-end management, analytics, and workflow tools.
“Having all this data available on a single platform is also a game-changer for hospital management purposes,” noted Dr. Belmonte.
Focusing on key implementation success factors
Working with GE HealthCare, Sant’ Andrea University Hospital focused on these essential implementation best practices to ensure a smooth deployment of the new processes and technology.
- Find a champion for the system – The initiative required a physician leader to represent all major cardiology groups. The ideal candidate for this role can provide both leadership and support for the initiative.
- Ensure comprehensive representation – Include representatives from all the major cardiology groups to increase the likelihood of widespread buy-in and long-term project success. Be sure to include managers and lead techs who can be consulted to understand how the technology will impact their workflows.
- Consistent meetings - Facilitate regular meetings with the key stakeholders to discuss the potential changes related to the project. Consider when and how the changes should be rolled out, focusing on minimizing variability across different cardiology groups. These meetings should begin before go-live and continue through the entire rollout.
- Plan to maximize automation – Invest the time on the front end to understand all the technology options available and determine how to maximize the capabilities that can have a positive impact across cardiology teams.
- Develop quick reports to cover the most common diagnoses at your institution - Involve physicians with different expertise such as clinicians, interventional cardiologists, and imagers to review the clinical content that will be included in the report. Look for opportunities to pre-populate the report using data entered in modalities during the procedure.
- Create a playbook for success – Include contact information for those who can assist as questions pop up, particularly during the first several months of using the new system.
- Account for technology set-up – Involve IT as needed, especially to review remote reading options, data security, hardware requirements, and Internet speed.
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