New Survey Highlights Immediate Need for Anesthesia Information Management Systems

ATLANTA, Oct. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- A new survey highlights the need for Anesthesia Information Management Systems (AIMS) with a full 91 percent of respondents indicating that access to day-of-surgery data is Extremely Important or Important to optimally manage their anesthesia department.  More than half of the survey respondents are responsible or partially responsible for the management of the OR.  The independent survey of 277 anesthesiologists was sponsored by Surgical Information Systems (SIS) of Alpharetta, GA.  

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"This survey highlights the need for and benefits of moving to an accessible, legible and consistent automated anesthesia record," said Ed Daihl, CEO of Surgical Information Systems.  

An increased need for access to data and analytics tools, combined with the growth of anesthesia services, is fueling the need to automate one of the last paper-based areas of the hospital.  The demand for anesthesia services is growing with anesthesiologists reporting the top areas of growth as Endoscopies, Surgical Procedures and Pain Clinics.  The growing anesthesia services volume outside of the Operating Room (OR) increases the pressure on anesthesiologists to stay connected and fully 76 percent of survey respondents indicated that having mobile access to up-to-the-minute anesthesia data would be Very Beneficial or Beneficial to them. The most significant benefits cited by survey respondents, included improved communications regarding cases and scheduling, time saved by not being tied to a workstation, improved monitoring of multiple cases and patients and easy access to drug information and guidelines.

When asked to list the top anesthesia practice challenges facing the industry, anesthesiologists reported:

• Scheduling accuracy and predictability
• Keeping up with changing regulations
• Quality of patient care
• Accurate billing

Anesthesia Information Management Systems (AIMS) are focused on meeting the unique needs of anesthesia workflows and assist anesthesia departments in addressing each of these key practice challenges.  "The primary benefit of automating anesthesia workflows is a higher level of direct patient care," said Daihl.  "This improved care is an automatic by-product of improved accuracy, legibility and predictability.  These systems also impact the financial health of the perioperative department - and the hospital as a whole – through more accurate billing and improved quality."

In the SIS survey, 84 percent of the respondents indicated that access to an analytics tools is Extremely Important or Important to optimally managing the anesthesiology department.  Another 72 percent of anesthesiologists indicated that it is Extremely Important or Important that the information captured for the anesthesia record is integrated with the nursing documentation record.  This management and coordination of care is facilitated by the use of a fully integrated anesthesia and surgical record.  

"The demand for accurate data demonstrating efficient, cost effective, high quality anesthesia care is growing dramatically," said Marc Paradis, MD, Partner, Hartford Anesthesiology Associates.  "Hospital administrators, department leaders, and State and Federal agencies all require performance data.  Increasingly, performance is tied to income and the only way to deliver this data quickly and easily is with a well integrated AIMS.  Given the results of the survey, I would think that the demand for specialized AIMS will increase rapidly over the next year or two."

"Anesthesia automation is an area of tremendous opportunity and growth for healthcare providers," said Daihl.  "As the only healthcare IT company to focus exclusively on the perioperative environment, SIS has seen the capacity for AIMS to improve clinical, operational and financial efficiencies.  The results of this survey confirm that anesthesia providers also recognize the importance of immediate AIMS adoption."

About SIS

SIS provides software solutions that are uniquely designed to add value at every point of the perioperative process. Developed specifically for the complex surgical environment, all SIS solutions – including anesthesia – are architected on a single database and integrate easily with other hospital systems. SIS offers the only surgical scheduling system endorsed by the American Hospital Association (AHA), and a rules-based charging system that has been granted Peer Reviewed status by the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA).

For more information visit our website, www.SISFirst.com.

SOURCE Surgical Information Systems