Patient care at hospitals hit by loss of files in tsunami

StephenW

<http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110625003054.htm>

Patient care at hospitals hit by loss of files in tsunami

The Yomiuri Shimbun

At least 14 hospitals in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures lost their medical
records in the March 11 tsunami, according to a Yomiuri Shimbun survey,
making it difficult to verify patients' medical histories and courses of
medication.

Numerous records were washed away or rendered illegible by the water, the
survey found. However, Ishinomaki Municipal Hospital in Miyagi Prefecture
suffered minimal losses because it had digitized its data and kept backup
copies at a hospital in Yamagata.

The central government has began discussing the creation of a legal
framework to urge hospitals to back up their medical records. However, most
of the nation's facilities still keep only paper records, and the
government expects digitization to take a significant amount of time.

Dr. Takeshi Kanno, 31, recently responded to numerous telephone inquiries
at a temporary clinic established at an evacuation center in
Minami-Sanrikucho, Miyagi Prefecture. The questions were from hospitals
that had taken in patients previously treated at Shizugawa Hospital in the
city, where Kanno used to work and which was seriously damaged by the March
11 tsunami.

"Do you know what medicines your hospital prescribed to a patient who is
now at our facility?" one hospital staffer asked. Another wanted to know
someone's case history.

About 70,000 people were treated annually at Shizugawa Hospital before the
disaster. The tsunami reached the fourth floor of the five-story building,
washing away the paper records stored on the first and second floors.

Patients had to move to other hospitals, but the new facilities had
difficulty treating them with all the records lost. Many patients did not
even remember the names of medicines they were taking.

The Yomiuri Shimbun asked hospitals hit by tsunami in 27 municipalities in
Iwate and Miyagi prefectures whether their medical treatment records
survived. At least three in Iwate Prefecture and 11 in Miyagi Prefecture
lost their records when they were washed away by tsunami or when servers
containing electronic records were submerged in seawater and ruined. Many
clinics also lost their records.

According to the Miyagi Medical Association, 186 medical institutions,
including clinics, were destroyed or seriously damaged by the March 11
disaster. Of this number, 163 said they lost all or some of their medical
records, the association said.

In contrast, Ishinomaki Municipal Hospital was able to quickly restore the
digitized records it lost after the tsunami.

The hospital had stored information on about 40,000 patients in a computer
room on its first floor. The room was submerged in the tsunami, but the
hospital retrieved the data from backup copies kept at Yamagata City
Hospital Saiseikan in Yamagata.

The two hospitals agreed in February to save each other's medical records.

"Examining patients without medical records is like examining them
blindfolded," said Shu Matsukawa, vice director of Ishinomaki Municipal
Hospital. The backup data really saved us."

After the disaster, the Cabinet Office's Information Technology Strategy
Council decided to urge hospitals to store copies of their medical records
in far-off locations.

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has began discussing creating a
legal framework for this, but few hospitals possess the digitized records
that would make such backup copies possible.

According to the health ministry, only 14.2 percent had digitized their
medical records as of 2008. Only 10.2 percent of the hospitals in Iwate
Prefecture have finished digitizing their records, while the figure was 6.8
percent in Miyagi Prefecture.

"If hospitals share digitized medical records with each other, they'll be
able to resume services soon after being hit by disasters," said Tai
Takahashi, a professor at International University of Health and Welfare.

"Hospitals need to consider the risks of sharing information, including
leaks, as the data would be managed by outsiders," Takahashi said.
"However, hospitals need to choose suitable information management systems
after explaining the risks and benefits to patients."

(Jun. 26, 2011)