Enhancing the Efficiency of a Radiation Oncology Department Using Electronic Medical Records: Protocol for Preparing Radiotherapy

Abstract

Background Electronic medical records (EMRs) streamline medical processes, improve quality control, and facilitate data sharing among hospital departments. They also reduce maintenance costs and storage space needed for paper records, while saving time and providing structured data for future research. Objective This study aimed to investigate whether the integration of the radiation oncology information system and the hospital information system enhances the efficiency of the department of radiation oncology. Methods We held multidisciplinary discussions among physicians, physicists, medical radiation technologists, nurses, and engineers. We integrated paper records from the radiation oncology department into the existing hospital information system within the hospital. A new electronic interface was designed. A comparison was made between the time taken to retrieve information from either the paper records or the EMRs for radiation preparation. A total of 30 cases were randomly allocated in both the old paper-based system and the new EMR system. The time spent was calculated manually at every step during the process, and we performed an independent 1-tailed t test to evaluate the difference between the 2 systems. Results Since the system was launched in August 2020, more than 1000 medical records have been entered into the system, and this figure continues to increase. The total time needed for the radiation preparation process was reduced from 286.8 minutes to 154.3 minutes (P<.001)—a reduction of 46.2%. There was no longer any need to arrange for a nurse to organize the radiotherapy paper records, saving a workload of 16 hours per month. Conclusions The implementation of the integrated EMR system has resulted in a significant reduction in the number of steps involved in radiotherapy preparation, as well as a decrease in the amount of time required for the process. The new EMR system has provided numerous benefits for the department, including a decrease in workload, a simplified workflow, and conserving more patient data within a confined space.