Across Canada, hospitals are experiencing an increased number of cyber security threats resulting in networks being turned off, with no access to Hospital Information Systems (HIS). A HIS is crucial to the digital transformation of patient-centered care and can improve hospital efficiencies, reduce errors, and enhance patient outcomes.

Without access to HIS for several weeks or sometimes months, these unplanned downtimes impact hospital pharmacy workflow, resulting in organizations having to revert to paper medication orders and pharmacists reviewing and storing these manually. Manual medication orders are often not fully dated and timed, creating a significant challenge and risk after the downtime is resolved, when the organization needs to repopulate the HIS system patient medication records with the most up to date medications and dosage information.

How HealthPRO Canada Can Help

Under the HealthPRO Canada Telepharmacy and Professional Support contract with our partner Northwest Telepharmacy Solutions (NTS), members have access to PowerGridRX. This cloud-based medication management software helps members manage manual medication orders electronically, facilitate ongoing clinical review and documentation within the software, and provide an electronic solution to retain medication orders chronologically during unplanned downtimes.

Once the downtime is resolved, this software allows hospital pharmacists to repopulate patient medical records accurately and efficiently.

To learn more, contact Patricia Macgregor at pmacgregor@healthprocanada.com.