Implementation of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) at Federal Medical Centre, Ebute-Metta, Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Electronic Medical Record (EMR) is the transformation of patients’ medical records from its paper-based format to digital form. This comprises information about the patient’s health history, such as diagnoses, medicines, tests, allergies, immunizations and treatment plans. EMR can be seen by all healthcare providers who take care of patients. It is easier to access and update. In the past years, there used to be lots of delays in the retrieval of patients’ medical records, misplacement of patients’ vital documents and misfiling of case notes. It is against this background that EMR was introduced in FMC, Ebute-Metta, to help eliminate all these challenges. The main objective of this paper is to describe the various processes involved in the implementation of EMR in FMC, Ebute-Metta, Lagos.
Methods: The implementation of electronic Medical Record (EMR) at the Federal Medical Centre Ebuta-Meta started with the purchase of EMR equipment and staff training. Also, scanning and archiving of patients’ medical records were carried out. The entire patients’ medical case notes were scanned page by page. The scanning processes took place inside the Health Information Management record’s library. Librarians play vital roles by initiating the digitalisation process and ensured the smoothness and clarity of scanned documents.
Results: The result of this revealed that the speed of operation in EMR is very high compared to manual method because it significantly reduced patients’ waiting time. The challenges encountered in the process include EMR application downtime, power failure, among others.
Conclusion and Recommendation: The introduction of EMR at FMC, Ebute-Metta, was a welcomed initiative, because of its benefits. It has reduced the patient’s waiting time and more revenue is being generated. It is recommended that the EMR should be sustained by training and re-training staff.