South New Castle News

Bayhealth Medical Center issued the following announcement on Dec. 7.

Bayhealth recently became the first hospital in Delaware to implement OZ Systems’ interface that electronically transfers newborn hearing screening results into patients’ electronic health records (EHR). The project began last year when the Women’s and Children’s Services department purchased new hearing screening equipment to support the State of Delaware’s initiative to receive the screening data in a more efficient and timely manner via integration software. Unfortunately, the project had to be put on hold due to COVID-19.

“Prior to the new hearing screening equipment and integration software, results had to be manually entered by the nurses and certified nursing assistants (CNAs) into each separate reporting system,” explained Bayhealth Women’s and Children’s Services Outcomes Project Manager Pamela Laymon, RNC-LRN, BSN. “Then I had to download all of the data and send it to the State. Now, it automatically transfers from our new hearing screening equipment into OZ Systems’ Telepathy™ EHDI software then into the State Hearing Screening Program and to our EHR. This ensures that the data reported to the State and our EHR and subsequently, to the newborn’s providers, matches, and it eliminates the need for manual data entry.”

With the purchase of the new hearing screening equipment and integration software, the Women’s and Children’s Services team worked with Bayhealth’s Information Technology department to complete implementation in two testing phases. The first involved making sure the new hearing screening equipment accurately transferred results to the State via OZ Systems’ Telepathy™ EHDI, and the second phase ensured implementation of Telepathy™ EHDI’s capability to electronically transfer hearing screening results using standardized HL7 messaging into Epic, which is Bayhealth’s EHR.

Not surprisingly, this automated approach has resulted in a reduction in human error and saved time. “Since the new hearing screening equipment is handheld and more portable, it also allows us to keep the babies at bedside, which means mom can soothe the baby if necessary and we can maintain the Baby-Friendly practice of rooming-in,” said Bayhealth Maternal/Child Health Clinical Nurse Specialist Jennifer Orlosky-Novack, MSN, RNC-OB, APRN.

The new hearing screening equipment and OZ Systems’ Telepathy™ EHDI integration software are used in the Women’s and Children’s Services units at both Bayhealth Hospital, Kent and Sussex Campuses and in the Special Care Nursery at Bayhealth Hospital, Kent Campus.

Visit Bayhealth.org/Maternity-Obstetrics to learn more about how we care for newborns. 

Original source can be found here.

Source: Bayhealth Medical Center