As part of our year-long 20th anniversary celebration, we asked the leaders in our Hospital to share their stories and highlight the growth and evolution of their team, program and the services they provide.

This week’s feature: Health Records

Submitted by:

Shannen Pudas, Coordinator Health Records

Marcia Gillies, Coordinator, Health Records

Christina Bayko, Manager, Health Records

1. Briefly describe your program/service.

Health Records oversees the collection, disclosure, storage and retention of patient health records at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre. Health Records also oversees transcription, coding, scanning and release of information workflow and activities.

2. How has your program/service grown or evolved over the past 20 years?

Over the past 20 years, Health Records has seen the transition from traditional manual and paper based workflow in support of a more electronic and automated world. This includes:

• Implementation of scanning functions in 2014 for Inpatient, Emergency, Surgical Day Care and select Outpatient charts. These patient charts are now available in the Meditech Hospital Information System (HIS).

• Transformation of traditional dictation platforms using recordings from tapes to dictations with voice recognition. Medical Transcription has shifted from traditional typing to editing.

• Support of Cancer Centre patient health records made electronically in the Mosaiq Oncology system.

3. What is your most cherished accomplishment, milestone or memory?

Implementing and supporting the availability and accessibility of patient health records in the Meditech and Mosaiq systems, enabling an electronic patient chart for improved patient and family centered care.