Background:

We opened the interdisciplinary emergency department in the Klinikum Stuttgart on 16 December 2010. From day one, we depicted and steered our processes at the emergency department with E.care. I will gladly answer several questions about E.care:

What does E.care software do?

E.care specialises in perfectly representing, supporting and directing the processes of an emergency department. E.care works on several different levels and depicts everything in a simple, structured and surveyable manner. On the cockpit screen, each PC of the emergency department gets to see the current situation: how many patients are where, since when, with which symptoms, with an indication of the nurse and doctor responsible. Each member of staff immediately gets to see which tasks need to be carried out for which patient and what medicine needs to be administered. On the second level, the patient screen or the so-called patient dossier, they can see all details of the patient: anamnesis, diagnosis, tasks, medication, consultations, etc. The information is entered by each member of staff (both nurses and physicians) as a type of teamwork, during the stay and is immediately available to everyone. Working paperless has become reality with E.care. Through a link with the lab and the X-ray department, they too have direct access, with one click, to patient data without having to leave E.care.

What does E.care signify for the process management at the emergency department?

1. Documentation / management of where the patient is (e.g. box, room, X-ray, etc.) always and everywhere.

2. Documentation of the anamnesis / examinations / consultations is carried out once in E.care, for the nursing staff and the doctor: this means that double work is a thing of the past.

3. Documentation of the treatment in E.care (medication, IVs, surgical treatment).

4. Automatic drawing up of a letter for the GP with all documented information from E.care and findings of the GP information system in just one click.

5. Achieving a paperless emergency department without any archiving burden: all important information is either printed or sent to the GP information system on time in the letter for the GP.

6. Thanks to the intuitive operation of E.care, little time is required to train staff.

How was the cooperation with the E.care Company during the installation of the software?

E.care was adapted to our individual wishes and the requirements of the GP information system in just a few weeks. This went remarkably well. The E.care Company always perfectly met arrangements and deadlines.

Which developmental options does E.care offer?

The main advantage of E.care is the high level of flexibility and adaptability. Adaptations can be either carried out by us or reliably and fast via E.care support. This way we plan, for instance, the automatic creation of achievement documents with EBM figures from our documented tasks: this means that no additional time and manual work is required to draw up these documents and there is no longer concern that something will be 'forgotten'.

Prof. Dr. T. Schilling
Medical Director

Kriegsbergstraße 60
D – 70174 Stuttgart

Tel. +49 711 278-30300
Fax. +49 711 278-30309

t.schilling@klinikum-stuttgart.de