SAF'S ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS SYSTEM CLINCHES AWARD

"Technology is now transforming healthcare in ways that were unimaginable as recent as a decade ago. We must ride on this digital healthcare revolution by going digital intelligently and using data effectively." Minister for Health Gan Kim Yong said this at the National Health IT Excellence Awards held on 30 May at MAX Atria Singapore Expo.

"This allows for the capturing and sharing of information systematically across providers and settings, leading to better decision making and more coordinated care," he added.

The Singapore Armed Forces' (SAF's) new Electronic Medical Records system - Patient Care Enhancement System (PACES) 3 - is a prime example of how technology can be used to improve healthcare and bring greater efficiency and convenience to patients as well as medical practitioners. It was the winner of the "Digitised Care to Support One Healthcare System" category at the Awards.

Launched in April 2016, this latest version of PACES is now connected to national healthcare infrastructures and systems outside of Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) and SAF. Previously, PACES was hosted on the SAF intranet with limited access.

Now, with access to systems such as the National Electronic Health Record (NEHR) and the Critical Medical Information System (CMIS), SAF medical personnel can retrieve the latest information on servicemen's medical history and known drug or food allergies, allowing for faster and better assessment and treatment.

Information entered into PACES 3 is shared with the NEHR and CMIS so that doctors in medical facilities outside of MINDEF and the SAF are also kept up to date.

Among PACES 3's new features is the eHealth portal, which provides easy online access for SAF servicemen to view their medical results and Physical Employment Standard (PES) outcomes, as well as make appointments with the SAF medical centres. Servicemen can also download and print medical documents from the system through the eHealth portal with personal computers or mobile devices.

In addition, an SMS reminder system was put in place to inform servicemen of upcoming medical appointments or changes to their appointments.

With the introduction of online forms for pre-enlistment and medical check-ups via PACES 3, self-registration kiosks at the medical centre has reduced waiting time from 8 minutes for manual registration to 1 minute. This has also decreased the medical centre's administrative workload.

The automatic transfer of electrocardiogram images, laboratory results and X-ray reports into PACES 3 eliminates the need for manual scanning and further cuts down manpower efforts.

"Leveraging on technology, PACES 3 is a smart system that aims to provide more efficient medical care for our servicemen while reducing manpower requirements," said Major (MAJ) (Dr) Clive Tan, Head of PACES Office.

He added: "The two-way sharing of information by the Medical Officers (MO) in the SAF and the doctors in public medical facilities enable them to see the latest treatment (given to their patients) so that they know what to do next to treat the servicemen more effectively."

Chief of Medical Corps Rear-Admiral (RADM) (Dr) Tang Kong Choong, who received the award for PACES 3 at the ceremony, said he hoped that servicemen would find the enhanced eHealth website useful and user-friendly. He also wanted to encourage servicemen to "take greater ownership of their health by being able to access their health information and make appointments at their designated SAF medical centres online."

For his leadership in the PACES 3 project, Assistant Chief of Medical Corps and Chief Air Force Medical Officer Colonel (COL) (Dr) Gan Wee Hoe won the "Champion for Health IT Excellence" category at the Awards.

On some of the challenges faced in developing and implementing the project, the PACES 3 Project Lead said: "(It was) challenging because of its multi-faceted scope. We had to include common healthcare features, such as reporting sick and ordering blood tests, and military medical-specific requirements like the PES system."

"But thanks to the collaborative teamwork of the entire project team consisting of members from the SAF Medical Corps, Defence Science and Technology Agency and other partners, we were able to collectively overcome these challenges in the journey."

Started in 2015, the National Health IT Excellence Awards is an annual accolade recognising individuals and projects that have achieved healthcare excellence through Information Technology.