Systematic bids to bring Danish health record system to Swedish hospitals
In Denmark, an electronic health record system developed with support from doctors and clinicians from Danish university hospitals is in use across half of the country. The IT company behind this system is now focusing on promoting the benefits to be achieved to the Swedish regions.
“We can see that it makes a big difference, that Columna supports the day-to-day work of clinical staff and can be adapted to suit local conditions and requirements. The open architecture provides future-proofing, including the ability for the regions to develop their own solutions and link them up. A number of hospitals have developed or acquired their own AI solutions, which they use together with Columna,” explains Henrik Rosenberg Rasmussen, Account Director at Systematic.
While a number of Swedish regions are struggling to switch over and implement electronic health records, the Columna Clinical Information System (CIS) has proved very successful in Denmark, with three out of five Danish regions using it to cover data from approximately 3.2 million citizens.
Efficient IT systems can be a means to smarter workflows and freeing up more time to devote to patients in a society where the healthcare sector is facing pressure owing to staff shortages and an increasing elderly population.
Unfortunately the replacement of large-scale public IT systems often results in going over budget and schedules being exceeded – with users not seeing the promised boost.
However, this has not been the case in three out of five Danish regions. The electronic health record system (EHR), Columna CIS, has been successfully implemented and hospital employees have gained an essential digital partner to provide an overview, ease workflows and safeguard patient data.
Two regions, Stockholm and Gotland, will shortly introduce new health record systems, and Systematic, the Danish software company behind Columna CIS, has already registered its interest in repeating its success from Denmark and becoming the supplier and implementation partner for the Swedish hospitals in the Stockholm and Gotland regions.
Developed in collaboration with doctors and healthcare professionals
Columna CIS has been developed in close collaboration with doctors and clinicians from Danish university hospitals. Aarhus University Hospital (AUH) put the solution into service in 2010. Thanks to excellent results and satisfaction with the system, the Region of Southern Denmark and the North Denmark Region decided to implement Columna in 2021 and 2022 respectively. This means that half of Denmark’s population is covered by this system, and clinicians from both Aalborg and Odense University Hospitals are now contributing to continued development of Columna CIS.
Staff find the system to be intuitive to use, and it provides a better overview of data, simplifies workflows and frees up time for patient care, which has been documented in a number of independent surveys and reported in MedicoTeknik and Politiken, among others.
Henrik Rosenberg Rasmussen, Account Director at Systematic, is confident that the Swedish regions will also benefit from Columna, as it was created based on the Nordic health and welfare system.
He also believes that Swedish patients will find the accompanying patient-oriented app very useful. This allows users to follow their treatment and arrangements with the hospital – as well as changing planned outpatient appointments.
Over the years, the Danish company has gained a great deal of experience of implementing new IT solutions at hospitals without any unnecessary disruption to workflows or staff.
Business as usual for patients and staff as huge IT implementation goes ahead
One good example of this comes from Västra Götaland. Systematic delivers its task management system Columna Flow to more than 50 hospitals worldwide – including Sahlgrenska and other hospitals in Västra Götaland. The implementation process here was hit by the coronavirus lockdown, but experience from previous efficient training of the employees at the hospitals helped to ensure successful and on-time completion.
In the North Denmark Region, all hospitals transitioned to Columna CIS in one night, with the day-to-day routine of staff practically unaffected. As reported:
“The project has been well organised, and has been implemented on time and within the approved budgetary framework in spite of COVID-19, which impacted the start-up phase and restricted our working conditions in general and our collaboration. So, with a successful implementation behind us, I can calmly say that we’re very happy,” said Christian Boel, CEO at the time, in a press release from the North Denmark Region.
Today, the three regions in western Denmark are now responsible for operation of their EHR systems themselves, and they work closely together on areas such as use and further development, which translates into a number of tangible benefits. The regions have set up a joint body for sharing experience and arranging joint purchasing of new functionalities.
Positive feedback
According to a survey conducted by organisation Yngre Læger, nine out of ten doctors in the Central Denmark Region are pleased with Systematic’s Columna CIS (known as MidtEPJ), which they perceive as safe for patients, easy to use, and a system that does not take time away from their patients.
According to Henrik Rosenberg Rasmussen, this is due to the fact that the system was created in close consultation with health professionals – and further development and the entire implementation process are carried out in close collaboration with the employees.
“We are not experts on the workflows of the individual hospital. The clinicians are, and so we make sure everything is done in close collaboration with them. Having users on board is a necessity if you aim to develop sound, critical IT systems that make a difference to the user,” he says.
Facts: What is an EHR system?
An electronic health record (EHR) is the primary IT tool for clinicians and secretaries, who handle record keeping, medication, requisitions and responses from laboratory and imaging systems, patient administration and bookings. The system includes patient data concerning test and examination results, medication, diagnoses and registered notes.
