Aussie healthcare system for Middle East hospital

Peter Dinham
Monday, 07 September 2009 10:36

IT Industry - Deals

An Australian-developed healthcare information system is to be deployed at a major teaching hospital in the United Arab Emirates in a deal secured by InterSystems with the yet-to-be completed state-of-the-art Sharjah Teaching Hospital.

InterSystems will deploy the web-based TrakCare health IT system in all areas of the 210-bed hospital which is in the final stage of completion and expecting to receive its first patients in the first quarter of next year. Situated adjacent to the Medical and Health Sciences campus of the University of Sharjah, and the Sharjah Medical Excellence Cluster, the hospital will provide the residents of Sharjah, the UAE, and the region with access to leading medical experts and the applications of the latest developments in medical research.

Robert Long, business development manager for InterSystems Middle East, said Intersystems’ HIS would allow the clinicians and other clinical staff at the hospital “immediate secured access to the seamless integrated electronic patient information from all departments and laboratories, at all times. The system will also streamline all aspects of patients' admission and discharge through the online accurate processing of all the relevant information associated with each patient.”

The director of information technology at Sharjah Teaching Hospital, Dr. Yaseen Hayjaneh, said TrakCare would improve patient outcomes and service by “effectively and efficiently automating and streamlining hospital operations.
 
“It will have a major impact on processes such as results reporting and order entry as well as provide access to diagnostic images and patient information coupled with electronic documentation. In addition, it will lead to improved communication between clinical and administrative staffs of the hospital. We look forward to the system's full implementation and to reaping the benefits of this investment."

Special advisor to His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah, Dr. Amr Abdel-Hamid, said the teaching hospital would be “a beacon for quality healthcare services in the region”.

"The buildings are magnificent and the selected medical facilities are outstanding by all standards. Our team conducted a very thorough analysis of all the offers we received from the leading suppliers of patient management systems and found TrakCare to be the most appropriate for our needs. The signing of this agreement is the climax of major efforts by many specialists from both sides during the last twelve months."

InterSystems’ Robert Long said that when the company opened its offices in the UAE last year, it took direct responsibility for negotiating with the client team at Sharjah Teaching Hospital which was “essential to properly share their vision, and we now look forward to continuing our work with their specialists to fully implement the system."

Long said InterSystems will work closely with the hospital team over the coming months to implement the solution. He said Sharjah Teaching Hospital has no legacy HIS systems but TrakCare will need to be “integrated with some additional essential applications, including a document management system, a Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS) and core back office applications.

“This integration is key to realising one of the primary benefits of TrakCare: its detailed business intelligence and management information,” Long said, adding that “TrakCare is renowned globally, and the business intelligence it provides helps hospitals improve patient outcomes. We believe this will be of significant value to Sharjah Teaching Hospital as it seeks to analyse its performance on clinical and administrative issues to improve care and reduce costs."