[Per aspera ad astra: implementation of electronic patient records in a university eye hospital : Experience with FIDUS in the Clinic for Ophthalmology at the Saarland University Medical Center UKS].

BACKGROUND: For more than 60 years patient records of the Department of Ophthalmology at the Saarland Medical Center in Homburg were documented on handwritten paper documents and filed in archives. Increasing requirements for medical documentation, exploding volumes of diagnostic data, overcrowded archives and unavailable files when needed, were the essential rationales for the implementation of an electronic patient archive (EPA).

METHODS: The EPA has been specifically adapted to the requirements of the Department of Ophthalmology in order to guarantee a standardized unobstructed documentation and patient care across all sections of the department. Seamless integration into the clinic information system (KIS) and network-compatible diagnostic software were essential as well as a timely digitization of existing paper charts. Decisive factors for using FIDUS (Arztservice Wente GmbH, Darmstadt, Germany) as the EPA software were the visual layout of the EPA, user friendliness and reference installations of the software in other ophthalmology departments.

RESULTS: After one and a half years of meticulous preparation with specific adaptations to the requirements of our department, the EPA was finally implemented in January 2016 and since then we have been working on improvements. The EPA software retrieves basic patient data from the KIS and diagnostic data from electronic devices via various interfaces. Expenses for printers could be reduced but computer workplaces had to be expanded or newly created. For previous patients paper files are digitized externally and stored in an electronic archive directly accessible from the EPA.

DISCUSSION: Successful reorganization and implementation of electronic documentation during clinical routine is feasible with careful preparation and timely involvement of information technology experts, motivated physicians, nurses, research departments and the administration.