Creating awareness among the medical staff certainly cannot be overlooked.
Didier Hennekens, Head of IT at RHMS (Réseau Hospitalier de Médecine Sociale), a private group of 3 hospitals and 2 polyclinics belonging to the social mutual insurance funds, gave an overview of the challenges and problems faced by this group of hospitals during the migration from their paper medical files to electronic files. Digitising all paper documents, switching to a PACS system and the use of an electronic signature were just a few of the challenges involved. The hospital network was also reconfigured at the same time, with local networks set up at each group site.
In addition to the technical aspects, the medical staff have also to be motivated to use the digital file in practice. Because a transition from paper to digital is just as much a ‘people challenge’ as it is an ‘IT challenge’. By digitising information, the hospital guarantees the permanent availability of medical and administrative data.
