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Putting the Paper in the Past
Singapore’s National Cancer Centre (NCC) had been using the
record and verify function of IMPAC’s radiation oncology
software, but a reorganization impelled it to
explore other IMPAC functionalities. “When we developed an
off-site center, we urgently needed to rationalize our work
flow, particularly patient scheduling,” explained Dr. Kam-Weng
Fong. “IMPAC’s scheduling software is brilliant; we can’t work
without it now.” Planning to pilot the program for three months, the NCC switched over completely to
IMPAC after just one month of also retaining paper schedules.
“More and more team members were saying, ‘Hey, this works,’”
said Fong. “Everyone was happy to abandon the old way and put
paper in
the past.”
Protecting Staff from SARs
The NCC began using IMPAC’s software to track patient treatment,
and physicians started using clinical-notes of the electronic
chart to communicate with therapists. Today, instead of
documenting patient notes on cards they are entered into the
software, providing an electronic medical record (EMR)
accessible to authorized NCC staff anytime, anywhere. In March
2003, when SARs hit Singapore, this accessibility to patient
records proved critically important. To reduce the risk to its
staff of SARs exposure and ensure that its staff would be
available to provide continuity of care, the NCC allowed half
the staff to work at the center and half from home. Stay-at-home
staff were able to work remotely over a VPN with the IMPAC
system deployed on Citrix servers; they left instructions for
radiation therapists, tracked patients, and even completed some
planning. “When clinicians had phone consultations about a
patient, both could look at the patient’s EMR on their
monitors,” explained Fong. “Being able to access records from
home meant that off-site staff could help on-site staff bear the
extra burden.”
Pushing for Research
After NCC realized the difference IMPAC was making,
it vigorously sought to maximize the benefits. It’s using IMPAC
for complex IMRT treatments, helping physicians with staging and
other parameters, generating lists, and allocation and planning
of NCC resources. In February 2004, it plans to use IMPAC to go
filmless, will soon implement IMPAC’s medical oncology software
suite, and is encouraging physicians to use the clinical notes
component of the software. Many have begun keying into the
system information formerly written down on paper. While paper
folders are still relied on, the dual system, according to Fong,
has the advantage of building a centralized system providing
24/7 accessibility to patient records. Along with greater
accuracy comes greater consistency: use of IMPAC formats ensures
consistent information entry, which in turn, facilitates
research efforts. “It’s become apparent that we can use the
software as an information center,” said Fong. “We want to make
use of our data in research; with IMPAC, rather than hand
searching, we can just query our database, locating patients
that meet certain criteria.” Fong added, “IMPAC will be our key
information portal.”
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National Cancer Centre, Singapore
Dr. Kam-Weng Fong |
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