HUS had been trying to transfer doctors’ audio notes from cassette form to digital files that would be accessible to all doctors'. Electronic dictation has been introduced in three HUS districts, but the new system failed right from the off. Dictated notes were not transferred correctly.
HUS estimates that thousands of patients’ records have not been transferred correctly, and some have even been lost altogether, according to the district’s chief physician, Lasse Lehtonen.
“The majority of the records have been found, but it has taken a lot of work,” said Lehtonen. “Of course we are disappointed because this should have made data transfer easier and improved patient safety, but the whole thing has become a liability,” he says.
Patient safety compromised
The disappearance of data has also weakened patient safety and data security, according to Lehtonen.
“It is always problematic for patient safety when real-time information is not available,” admitted Lehtonen. “On the other hand, we decided in the project planning stage that we would begin with units that don’t deal with critical situations. Nonetheless, the problem is serious.”
Logica, the company engaged to transcribe doctors’ oral notes, was apparently surprised by the volume of the work, and the transcription of statements has been suspended. Lehtonen estimates that around 70,000 patients’ notes have been transcribed in the autumn, but says that medical terminology has caused problems during the transcription process.
Janne Aaltonen of Logica admits that the work has not gone as planned, but he says that most of the problems lie with a few hundred patients’ records. He hopes to have digitalised records up and running in several HUS units by the new year.
Lehtonen, on the other hand, says that the implementation of the new system cannot expand until all the kinks in the system have been ironed out.
