HIMSS Greater China AVP and Director of Education Anjie Ren advocates patient safety improvement through closed loop medication administration

11-16-2018

World-leading intelligent systems company Advantech (stock symbol: 2395) held the first Advantech IoT Co-Creation Summit at Suzhou International Expo Center. Over 5,000 Advantech clients and partners gathered at the event, which focused on software/hardware integration for various industries, connection and building of a complete industrial IoT ecosystem and value chain, and joint preparation for the next IoT stage development, of which the new page for intelligent healthcare is seen as IoT’s major revolution on the traditional healthcare industry. Advantech invited Anjie Ren, AVP and Director of Education for HIMSS Greater China, to speak on “China hospital information installations and practice under HIMSS EMRAM” in the “Achieving hospital information installation closed-loop medication administration (CLMA) and medication administration safety” focus topic, demonstrating the actual effects of healthcare information technology (HIT) on patient safety and healthcare quality improvement.

Whole person, whole scope, whole life-span patient-centered information connection

Advantech is committed in intelligent systems and has established complete hardware, software, and systemic service networks in intelligent healthcare. To enhance Advantech and intelligent healthcare partners’ leading advantages in the health information area, Anjie Ren, AVP and Director of Education for HIMSS Greater China, was invited to this event. Through analysis of HIMSS guided cases and practical examples, he explained that IoT and big data applications may already achieve the three modes of whole person, whole scope, and whole life-span. Previously, there were high borders between healthcare institutions and disciplines. Collaboration modes have now changed. All health information and data for a given individual is connected, with exclusive, comprehensive, and continuous service made available. This is realization of “whole person.” “Whole scope” is the further display of data integration applications. Patients receive healthcare services from different areas, but the healthcare provider may always center on the patient, actively connecting interdisciplinary treatment procedures and approaches, thus creating an environment that reassures patients. “Whole life-span” overcomes time and space restrictions to incorporate future people’s life-span from birth, growth, aging to death. The healthcare system shall not only reference the patient’s self-reports during visits, but also obtain their complete personal health data through technology application.

As technology matures, hospitals invest in intelligent health infrastructure

During his talk, Ren mentioned the Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM), developed by HIMSS Analytics and which facilitates hospital scoring in eight stages, 0 to 7. Nine hospitals in China have achieved stage 7, making China the country with the most stage 7 hospitals besides USA.

Closed loop medication administration demonstrates health information systems’ contribution to clinical medicine

Lowering error rates through system integration supported by advanced technology, ensuring better patient safety

Advantech’s current intelligent medication management system solution is one that complies to HIMSS stage 6 requirements and beyond. It utilizes RFID technology and individual medication box locking systems to accurately track medication flows from the pharmacy, nursing station, to bedside administration, and to ensure that medication boxes are correctly exchanged and transferred throughout the process, reducing error rates and guaranteeing patient safety. Advantech’s medication management solution is flexible and applicable under central, distributed, or combined management. It is adaptable to different hospital scales and workflows. During the event, Ren declared that Advantech’s dedication in the IoT field and its practical product developments shocked him and gave him a strong impression. He suggested Advantech to leverage their leading knowledge in IoT to invest in closed loop knowledgebase management, driving hospitals to re-engineer their organizations and processes, and further promoting developments such as scientific research and artificial intelligence healthcare.