Description of the System

Opened on the year 1990, Angeles University Foundation Medical Center started with a manual operating process. Two years later, they have decided to acquire a system but it was only in DOS-based. In the year 1999, it was developed into Windows-based in which in the year 2006, second version was released.  Currently, they are using MEDICAL SYSTEM or simply MEDSYS by Kaiser dela Cruz Consulting Incorporation. Kaiser specializes in application development especially in the operation of the hospitals.

MEDSYS is designed to integrate together the whole hospital operations from patient registration up to his discharge; MEDSYS is coalescing medical and financial records, and generate reports into one system. It has the capacity to generate reports. The system has its own server which costs millions of pesos.

This is the main system of the hospital operation.  The system is used by the different departments right from the start of the registration of the patient up to discharging. For example, when patient/relative of a patient will choose a room, admitting checks the folder containing the available rooms. Assuming that they have chosen a room, the admitting will capture the information from the ER, and will enter the room number. The updated information will automatically viewed by the nursing station assigned on the floor wherein the patient chosen the floor. The nursing station will then be responsible on the laboratory, pharmacy and dietary information. When discharging, the nursing station will advise the relative of the patient to clear the latter’s record. The billing section will compute for the bills and lastly, the admitting department will make the room available once receiving the clearance.

The Management Information System and Services (MISS) has the power to administer the MedSys and other system of the hospital.

Project Methodology

To begin with, developing this kind of system, Hospital Room Information System, needs profound research. It’s not just a typical hospital but one of the most prestigious in Central Luzon. The team found their existing system to be fine but as we go along with the data gathering like research and interviews from the departments who are affected in the development, the proponents determined that there are still inconsistencies to be improved (please see Appendix A.2 Questionnaire and Survey Forms A.3 Interview Transcript). In Admitting Department, they were having difficulties looking for available rooms for the patients to be admitted. The other one is when a department experiences inconsistencies, they are all calling directly to Admitting Department to inform that there is a problem, knowing that the Admitting Department is only using one computer. On the Nurse Station, nurses are posting the patients’ name and of the doctor/s in a rack that has room number which they called Patient Room Information Census (or most of the nurses call it Carousel) in which it decreases the confidentiality of the patients’ profile. One more thing is that they use lots of paper which can lead to report loss. All of the updates that have been made from the system are called using telephone from the department who made the modification. These are the departments who are involved in the development for their existing system.

Aside from analyzing and observing the system’s functionalities and inconsistencies, the team came up with questionnaire for the survey that they are going to conduct for the affected departments, which in the end will lead again to analyzing. As the team received the surveys forms and statistically analyze them, generally, the results are more on connection. They were all complaining how slow the connection is, even the update and retrieval of the system. These circumstances may not be the proponents’ concern anymore but as developers, they try to come up with something that will improve or satisfy the needs of the users.

The team decided to use the Methodology Waterfall with Prototyping Model. It allows them to do the prototyping between requirements analysis and program design or even during these three (3) Steps (Requirements Analysis, System Design, and Program Design), all throughout the prototyping, you can go back to analyze every detail of the prototype if everything is working according to the requirements. On the Waterfall with Prototyping Model, when you perform the system testing you can actually go back to validate the requirements analysis and verify the System Design. Unlike the traditional waterfall model, you cannot make a prototype anywhere. You have to perform the steps systematically until you achieve the testing of the system.

The group  wanted to modify everything that needs to be modified. Something that may not be perfect but at least, the users’ needs will be please. The team is very much willing to learn according to the need or demands of the real IT business nature. This could be a breakthrough for them if the system will get the chance to be implemented.

System Objectives

Basically, the system will be developed to help the hospital fasten its quality service, fulfilling its commitment of providing “healing with passion” philosophy. Though there is already an existing system that supports the whole hospital operations, enhancements will be developed by the proponents. Making it graphical will lessen the time of searching available rooms for patients. Instead of reading every lines of the text, they will just browse on a somewhat floor plan. A color coding will indicate if a room is available or not. If clicked, it will show the basic information of the patient admitted on the said room- including the name of course, prescriptions, diet list and name of attending doctor/s.

A feature will be added which will serve as a communication of the departments. It will support request of service of the Nursing Services to other departments like Housekeeping, Engineering, Dietary, Pharmacy and Labs. When the said department requests a service, he will have to indicate if it’s urgent or just a routine request so that the receiving party will be able to proceed accordingly. This way, there will be an assurance that the employees are working on their working hours. For convenience of all, the said system will be user-friendly and functional with just a few clicks. It will also generate an accurate report that will help the stakeholder to decide. For an instance, if the system had produced a report that a certain service of Housekeeping, like for example about the comfort rooms, they will be able to think over if there’s something wrong with the comfort rooms or the staffs themselves.

Wrapping up, the team hopes to fulfill the objectives of the study- to facilitate communications between departments, to lead towards digitalization, to provide quality healthcare service through the visualization of the current system.

System Overview

The AUFMC Hospital Room Information System is not a replacement or a substitute to their existing system, but rather an improved side of it. Though it is not a DOS- based system, it is not that user-friendly. What the users need, even those technical savvy people, is a graphical one which will bring convenience while using it. Since it is said that the Admitting Department is the bloodstream of the hospital, the system will be of help since the main goal of this research study is to fasten the service of the organization. With the graphical representation of the rooms on the proposed system, searching rooms for the patients to be admitted will be quicker. The user will just have to check its color to make sure that the room is available or not. Clicking the room will show basic information about the patient. It will also help keep the privacy and confidentiality of every patient. With the help of the proposed system, the names of the patients will no more be publicly displayed.

There will also be a feature that will be a communication medium of the departments involved. Any requests of services will just be made through this feature, lessening the employee’s manual work of telling them personally. On the report, it can trace the span of time the receiver responds to a certain request. With this, the company will be assured that the employees are working on their working hours. Along with it is a report of what services is mostly requested so that the management can make a decision out of it.  

Objectives of the Study

The study aims to develop a system that will help Angeles University Foundation Medical Center fulfill its mission “healing with compassion”, and emerge as the leading tertiary hospital north of Manila. This can be possible through the proposed system of visualizing the existing system they are using when admitting patients. The said system will help the users optimize the experience of using such system. At the end of this research, the team hopes to fulfill the following objectives of the system:

1. To facilitate communications between departments
2. To lead towards digitalization
3. To provide quality healthcare service through the visualization of the current system

Should the system be fully developed, AUFMC will have the following benefits:

1. Convenience for the people affected
2. Faster and quality service
3. More patients will be accommodated
4. There will be an assurance that the employees are working on their working time efficiently

Just an another overnight..

Met at 2pm, the team had worked for hours until decided to spend another overnight, which simply means another bonding time among the group. (Kawawa na naman kuryente nila Jellie nito, haha..Baka nga mamulubi na lolo at lola niya kakapakain sa amin, hehe.. ) Kidding aside, we’ve finished what we are supposed to finish, though time is still not enough na meron pa ring di nagagawa. Kahit medyo naguluhan kasi di alam kung kelan talaga magpapass ng documentation, go pa rin. Understood naman na since naextend sya one week, edi magbilang ka ng one week after July 31 which means August 7. Alangan namang ung proposal defense lang ung na-move. Bakit pa papatagalin ung defense kung ready na rin naman ung documents dba?

So, dito muna. Gotta work for some na di pa natapos.. Ciao!

Significance of the Study

This study is a significant effort in improving AUFMC’s quality healthcare regarding the management and administration of patients’ record.  The said study will be the graphical counterpart of the existing system. If modified, the system will help the departments involved to work faster. If the service of admitting and discharging patients is quick, it will allow another admission which will mean of income to the part of the hospital. And this will be a good indication of return on investment.

This research study will also be a significant part to us, the developers. Aside from the fact that this is a requirement for the team to complete the course, this will also help them develop knowledge in analyzing and providing solutions to issues presented. Working on the said research serves as the training ground as the team deals with different types of people. It is a good exposure because it shows the real scenario on how to work on the real business environment.

Scope and Limitations of the Study

The study will be working only in the boundary of searching for available rooms and serving as a communication within the departments in the hospital- from admitting patients done by the Admitting Department, patient monitoring process done by the Nursing Services, and a feature of requesting services of the Nursing Department to other departments like Housekeeping, Engineering and Pharmacy.  Information to be analyzed will be taken from the interviews, surveys and observations conducted by the research team. The study will concentrate on fastening the service of, possibly, all departments.

 

On the other hand, there are also limitations that deter the completion of the project. One of the limitations during the thesis study is the hostility of some employees towards the researching team. Some of their employees are not that cooperative because of a mentality “We already have a system, why bother create one?” Though not directly said, it is observed by the team. Another thing is that their available time conflicts with the team’s class schedule. Since the environment of the study is in the hospital, it is justifiably accepted that most of the times, they are busy. The team understands that thing, that’s why they demand only a little time. One more thing, though the team truly tries to use layman’s terms already, not all the employees using the system understand some of the technical terms. The team may mean one thing in which they have understood it differently, which really takes time explaining it to them.

 

Not only for the sake of completion that the team handles the limitations unreservedly but for the learning that accompanies it.

Background of the Study

Angeles University Foundation Medical Center was established on February 23, 1990. It was the first and only private tertiary teaching, training and research hospital in Central Luzon. AUFMC remained true to the philosophy of its founders that “no one should be denied quality healthcare due to poverty”. AUFMC had already served 62,000 underprivileged patients under its Indigency Program during the last 18 years.

Part of the mission of AUFMC is to provide better medical expertise and improve the quality of healthcare delivery. It continues to improve its services and facilities and emerge as the referral center of secondary hospitals and other small health facilities in Central Luzon.

AUFMC is committed to provide “healing with compassion”, giving quality health care services at affordable cost fulfilling its vision and mission.

Aside from the new and more efficient medical equipments, AUFMC also started to implement information systems throughout the hospital to fulfill its mission of providing better services. By the growing demand for information systems and as the world began to recognize the importance of technology in their organizations, AUFMC’s IT department and Board of Trustees (AUFMC’s highest governing body) are continuing to aim for its mission by also developing its information systems and adding necessary ones.

Due to some inconsistencies and limitations from the existing system, the proponents have identified from the interviews, surveys and initial study (please see Appendix A.2 Questionnaires and Survey Forms and A.3 Interview Forms) AUFMC aims to develop their information system. With the proposed system of the team, AUFMC will have the capability to facilitate better communication, provide faster quality service through the visualization of the system and lead towards digitalization. The following subsystems have been identified as priority systems projects for AUFMC’s Hospital Room Information System.

Overnights

 Just because we want some things to be done already that we spent 3 overnights at Jellie’s residence. It was always 4-5 am that we sleep kya pag oras na ng klase, wala na, bangag na kami lahat. Yun bang nagdidiscuss ung mga profs sa harap tapos kami sabik na sabik na mahiga sa kama at magoversleep. Helpful naman yun kasi para na rin naming teambuilding yung mga overnights na ganun, aside pa na mas powerful talaga na magkakasama kami kasi nakakapag-palitan kami ng ideas. Like now, stay uli kami nyan til tomorrow. Hopefully, marami uli kaming magagawa.

Wala lang, just sharing again..

 

kuia, makinig ka kay jhei, haha! 

busy daw..
  
isa pang take..

  
panoh un, jho?