CMH employee published in Minnesota Physician magazine

by Nancy Taggert, CMH director of marketing

For the Pine Journal

Bev Pehkonen, director of Clinical Informatics at Sunnyside Health Care Center and Community Memorial Hospital, recently had an article published in the Minnesota Physician magazine.

The article focuses on the importance of electronic health records for long-term care facilities. She points out that historically the emphasis has been on transitioning from paper medical records to electronic in the hospital setting.

However, because of the enormous amount of information contained in most medical charts of long-term care residents, creating an electronic version will make it easier for medical personnel to find the information they need and improve patient care.

The process to transition from paper charts to electronic at Sunnyside Health Care Center began in September 2004. It is still ongoing, but the majority of transition has now been completed for both Sunnyside and Community Memorial Hospital.

Within the next year, physicians will be able to enter their notes and orders online, furthering completing the transition from paper medical records to electronic health records.

Pehkonen is the core team leader for the implementation of the long term care module at Sunnyside.