Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Feb 23:13:e51002.
doi: 10.2196/51002.

Enhancing the Efficiency of a Radiation Oncology Department Using Electronic Medical Records: Protocol for Preparing Radiotherapy

Hao-Shen Cheng #  1 , Weir-Chiang You #  1 , Ni-Wei Chen #  1 , Mu-Chih Hsieh #  1 , Che-Fu Tsai #  1 , Chia-Jing Ho #  1 , Chien-Chih Chen #  1
Affiliations

Enhancing the Efficiency of a Radiation Oncology Department Using Electronic Medical Records: Protocol for Preparing Radiotherapy

Hao-Shen Cheng et al. JMIR Res Protoc. .

Abstract

Background: Electronic medical records (EMRs) streamline medical processes, improve quality control, and facilitate data sharing among hospital departments. They also reduce maintenance costs and storage space needed for paper records, while saving time and providing structured data for future research.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate whether the integration of the radiation oncology information system and the hospital information system enhances the efficiency of the department of radiation oncology.

Methods: We held multidisciplinary discussions among physicians, physicists, medical radiation technologists, nurses, and engineers. We integrated paper records from the radiation oncology department into the existing hospital information system within the hospital. A new electronic interface was designed. A comparison was made between the time taken to retrieve information from either the paper records or the EMRs for radiation preparation. A total of 30 cases were randomly allocated in both the old paper-based system and the new EMR system. The time spent was calculated manually at every step during the process, and we performed an independent 1-tailed t test to evaluate the difference between the 2 systems.

Results: Since the system was launched in August 2020, more than 1000 medical records have been entered into the system, and this figure continues to increase. The total time needed for the radiation preparation process was reduced from 286.8 minutes to 154.3 minutes (P<.001)-a reduction of 46.2%. There was no longer any need to arrange for a nurse to organize the radiotherapy paper records, saving a workload of 16 hours per month.

Conclusions: The implementation of the integrated EMR system has resulted in a significant reduction in the number of steps involved in radiotherapy preparation, as well as a decrease in the amount of time required for the process. The new EMR system has provided numerous benefits for the department, including a decrease in workload, a simplified workflow, and conserving more patient data within a confined space.

Keywords: Hospital Information System; efficiency; electronic medical records; protocol; radiation oncology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The final version of the electronic medical record (EMR), including the records of the past treatment of patients, a review of their past treatment status, and a link to the latest EMRs for tracking their current condition. CBCT: cone-beam computed tomography; CT: computed tomography; ICD9: International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision; ICD10: International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision; OBI: on-board imaging.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Comparison of the preparation processes between paper record usage and the integrated electronic record system. The integration of the electronic record system has led to a significant reduction in the time required for the radiation treatment preparation process. CT: computed tomography; HIS: hospital information system; OPD: outpatient department.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The list of patients and their related information created by our electronic medical record. Integration of the system allowed the patient lists and their related information to be displayed, allowing physicians to easily check the treatment status of each patient. RT: radiotherapy.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Negro-Calduch E, Azzopardi-Muscat N, Krishnamurthy RS, Novillo-Ortiz D. Technological progress in electronic health record system optimization: systematic review of systematic literature reviews. Int J Med Inform. 2021;152:104507. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2021.104507. https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1386-5056(21)00133-7 S1386-5056(21)00133-7 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Aguirre RR, Suarez O, Fuentes M, Sanchez-Gonzalez MA. Electronic health record implementation: a review of resources and tools. Cureus. 2019;11(9):e5649. doi: 10.7759/cureus.5649. https://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/31700751 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Brooks KW, Fox TH, Davis LW. A critical look at currently available radiation oncology information management systems. Semin Radiat Oncol. 1997;7(1):49–57. doi: 10.1053/SRAO00700049.S1053429697000052 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bittner MI. Information technology in radiation oncology-a brave new world? Front Oncol. 2013;3:116. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2013.00116. https://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/23717815 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Huang WL, Liu WS, Chen CH, Chang YH, Chang RJ. Study of development of electronic medical records system in radiation oncology. Therapeut Radiol Oncol. 2015;22(3):221–230. https://www.airitilibrary.com/Article/Detail?DocID=1023988x-201509-20151...

LinkOut - more resources