The Gateway

The electronic medical record (EMR) system has benefited deployed health care providers and patients in a deployed environment for years. Since MC4 works so well operationally, it made sense for us at the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade at Hunter Army Airfield to integrate the system into our battalion aid station (BAS) operations. For the past few months, we have been using MC4 every day and have seen a huge improvement in our ability to manage patient care.

In our BAS, we have 11 different MC4 stations set up, including seven patient treatment bays each fitted with a patient bed and MC4 laptop. We have essentially migrated our BAS to reflect more of a clinic/BAS hybrid model. Now that we are using the EMR system, we have noticed that the flow of work has slowed down a little because of the time it takes to input information. However, the trade off is continuous patient care. Previously, we used paper records, which posed a challenge in caring for patients because it’s common for multiple providers to care for one patient in our consolidated aid station. As a result, notes didn’t always make it in the chart leaving the follow-up physician with a lot of unanswered questions.

The MC4 system helped us make the leap into the 21st century to overcome this information gap. After just one day of medic training to get used to AHLTA-T, we were up and running. Fortunately, we have very involved personnel on the technology side that has helped make this transition smooth. Our medics received extensive AHLTA-Mobile training on the MC70 handheld, which they use in the field. Perhaps the most noticeable improvement in our work flow has been the medics because they are now trained on how to deliver a good patient history report to the provider electronically. Continuity of care is uninterrupted. Their knowledge of patient care has increased exponentially because they are more aware of the types of questions they need to ask and things they need to look for when conducting physical exams.

Now that I have experience using the EMR in an operational medical setting, returning to paper is out of the question. The MC4 system provides us with the information we need about our patients and saves us a lot of time in the long run. Recently, when we transferred a patient to the Winn Army Community Hospital, we documented the patient’s care electronically. By the time they arrived at Winn, the ER doctor had already reviewed their history and vital signs in AHLTA from care we provided here in our BAS.

At the end of the day, it’s all about expectations and delivering high quality patient care. The EMR system has provided me with the access I need as a surgeon to see what my medics— who are essentially my hands, eyes and ears in the field—are documenting in patient charts. The electronic notes are more reliable than those that were previously documented or absent from paper charts. Most importantly, this type of technological overhaul starts with the medical personnel who use it. You have to be invested in it to make it work. Life as we know it at our BAS has vastly improved because we all recognized that the system would provide us with the tools we need to improve patient care.

Capt. Ian Rivera, Battalion Surgeon, 603rd Aviation Support Battalion, 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, Hunter Army Airfield, Fort Stewart, Ga