Digital from zero to a hundred

BaliMéd Hospital

It has only been a year since radiology images at the BaliMéd Hospital on the island of Bali, Indonesia, were exclusively available in analog form. Doctors and patients sometimes needed to wait patiently until images and reports reached an inpatient department or one of the outpatient clinics. Today, the image data is not only available digitally across the entire facility at the touch of a button, but can even be viewed by patients in an app on their smartphones. 

The digitization process in radiology accelerated with the introduction of the JiveX Enterprise PACS in the summer of 2019. “Until then, we were not working either with a RIS or with a PACS. However, the need for this arose at the latest when we decided in 2017 to establish an electronic patient record. For starters, we set up a laboratory information system and at the same time, we began taking a closer look at the RIS and PACS systems from various manufacturers”, explained Agung Widyaningrat, IT-Manager at BaliMéd Hospital.

Intuitive handling and good integration

The persons in charge soon encountered the Indonesian VISUS partner P.T Murti Indah and its business development director Erry Sutisna: “We provided the BaliMéd Hospital with a test installation and the radiologists were able to put JiveX through its paces and compare it with other systems. In the end, the radiologists decided in favor of the JiveX Enterprise PACS because of its outstanding functionality and the easy and intuitive handling. For users facing digital processes for the first time, this point plays a particularly important role. The good integration in the HIS was also pivotal; ultimately, the images are to become a part of the Electronic Medical Record.”

The executive management of the private hospital, which has three locations in Denpasar, Negara and Karangasem, was also impressed with the overall JiveX concept. This was due, among other things, to the fact that the system offers the potential for further digitization approaches and it can thus grow with the expectations and needs of the hospital managers. IT expert Agung Widyaningrat welcomed the decision of the physicians and directors, because for him as well, VISUS proved to be the perfect partner: “The collaboration worked very well, both with MURTI as well as with the VISUS associates from Bochum who were not only here on site but also available to us by telephone at all times with advice and support. The actual implementation of JiveX went very smoothly. The integration in the HIS was also trouble-free, as was the link with the electronic patient record.”

More efficient processes

Processes in diagnostic radiology have greatly improved since the introduction of JiveX. In analog times, the doctors sometimes had to wait a long time for the results of a radiology examination. The BaliMéd Hospital is not just an inpatient facility with 200 beds but also an outpatient clinic for all major medical specialties. “Often, more than ten doctors are waiting at the same time for X-ray or CT images. Before digitization, they had to be patient until the radiology images and the report were sent to the department. Today, the doctors at least have the possibility to access the images from the HIS via the electronic patient record”, said Dr. Wayan Suastika, Radiologist at the BaliMéd Hospital.

Conversely, the patients have been receiving their examination data on a CD – at least until now. This is because the IT team of the BaliMéd Hospital has spent the past several months developing an app which patients can use to organize their entire hospital stay and access the contents of their patient record. Medical information such as laboratory values was initially available, and patients can now also access their image data, including radiology reports. A download is not possible; all data remain on BaliMéd’s own server. Yet the option for viewing data offers many advantages – for example, in the case of further treatment in another institution.  

Real prospects

Another prospect for the use of JiveX is the integration of ECGs in the software. To date, ECGs have been printed out and then digitized once again through scanning. This additional step will be omitted in the future, since the ECGs are directly incorporated in the PACS via the JiveX Print Gateway. 

However, for Agung Widyaningrat and the executive management of BaliMéd, JiveX’s potential has still not yet been used to its fullest extent with the integration of ECGs. The goal is to further integrate medical data into patient files, for example, the information from the emergency room or vital signs recorded on the ward – and to do this automatically. The JiveX Healthcare Content Management, which is currently in use on Bali as a test installation, could be helpful in fulfilling these “wishes.” Whether the data consolidation concept will be implemented will be decided in the coming months. In any case, the JiveX Enterprise PACS has become an indispensable part of the daily work routines of the hospital.