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Dayton Children's goes 'live' with electronic medical records

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By Ben Sutherly, Staff Writer Updated 3:18 PM Wednesday, August 26, 2009

DAYTON — The Children’s Medical Center of Dayton went live with electronic medical records on Tuesday, Aug. 25, in its inpatient unit, including its emergency department.

The hospital is spending $27 million to implement electronic medical records.

Nurses at the hospitals now use COWs — computers on wheels — as they go about their duties and document their care in real-time.

For doctors, meanwhile, typing instead of scribbling is now the rule, cutting down on the need for others to clarify illegible handwriting. Going forward, doctors will have to spend less and less time requesting hard copies of patients’ medical files.

About 40 people from Epic, the Verona, Wisc.-based electronic medical records software provider, are in Dayton to help the hospital make the transition. So far, the transition has been “hectic” but no major problems have arisen, said Dr. Tom Murphy, Dayton Children’s vice president of medical affairs.

The hospital’s outpatient clinics already have gone live with electronic medical records.

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