IT is enabling evidence-based medicine

Since 2000, UZ Brussel is extensively using an in-house developed Clinical Workstation (CWS) to streamline the massive information and clinical processes in the university hospital. Rudi Van de Velde, CIO of the hospital, explains that this system is able to offer its users (550 physicians and 1400 nurses) a holistic view of their work: "With this clinical workstation, our users have access to all patient and hospital related information within one system using a consistent user interface, which minimises training and optimises the work experience." 

Physicians use the CWS for almost all their activities, including order entry, scheduling (radiology, pathology, surgical and other activities), reporting, medication and admission. Physicians also have a complete picture of the patient's medical history at their fingertips: "We seamlessly integrate hospital applications, re-use many software components, and effectively manage change more efficiently. On a daily basis, physicians and nurses access patient records 25,000 times, schedule 4,000 appointments, capture more than 5,000 medical reports and process over 9,500 medical orders. Ninety percent of these interactions are completed in less than one second."