Enhancing Patient Safety, Reducing Costs, And Enabling Greater Compliance

Akron General Medical Center is a 537-bed, adult, tertiary-care, not-for-profit teaching hospital that serves a population of more than 1.2 million people throughout five counties in Northeast Ohio. It’s ranked among U.S. News and World Report’s “America’s Best Hospitals,” Solucient’s “Top 100 Hospitals” in the nation, and was named a Consumer Choice Award winner for 2005-2006 by the National Research Corporation.

While these honors recognize the rigorous quality standards and compassionate healthcare services provided by the medical center — they also speak to its ongoing efforts to earn the trust of its patients.

Akron General Medical Center has experienced tremendous success with FormFast and ChartMaxx; but Edgington admits that the process has taken a lot of work. “The biggest part of this process is the learning curve,” he says. Communication is also essential. Edgington also advises other hospitals to be prepared to address “surprises” along the way. “For example, we converted a pre-printed, multi-part form that we wanted to look exactly as the user expected. To do this, we had to set up multiple printer drawers, and we had to lock down the printers so that the settings were consistent. FormFast helped us with the design, and our printer vendor, HP, helped us secure the printers. Once this was in place, we rolled it out on the nursing units, one after another.”