Speaking at the annual Meeting of the Irish Society of Rheumatology (ISR), Consultant Rheumatologist Dr John Carey discussed the benefits he has realised since implementing Cellma at Merlin Park Hospital, Galway, and how he feels Rheumatologists across Ireland should use a national system.

Dr Carey reinforced RioMed’s success in improving the quality, safety and efficiency of patient care saying;

“Irish rheumatologists need to harness the advantages of electronic health information (EHI) to promote wellness and provide more efficient and effective care while at the same time reducing costs. As Ireland has one of the lowest ratios of rheumatologists per capita in the EU, better use of EHI could make a significant impact on the number of patients seen and treated, and the quality of care they receive.”

Here is how Cellma has delivered these improvements at Merlin Park Hospital;

Improving patient safety

• Allows for the tracking of patient’s progress throughout the care pathway, promoting informed decision making
• Automatic identification of patients due for recall or follow up and flags them for attention
• Immediately alerts clinicians to significant events such as abnormal lab results, allergies or interactions 
• Measures and records patient’s disease activity scores (DAS28) over time
• Improves cost and safety associated with the repeat prescription of DMARDS, ensuring that patients are efficiently followed up and monitored before repeat prescriptions are given
• Reduces the risk of human error

Improving quality

• Facilitates rapid data entry through standard computers, touch screen and mobile devices
• Allows for information sharing across the MDT and to external services, enabling the delivery of patient focused consistent care
• Letters and summaries are sent within 24 hours and maintain full confidentiality
• Identifies patients suitable for medication reduction or alteration
• Provides patient level costing of all activities within a care episode, rather than measuring generic episodic costs, particularly important to provide effective monitoring of the costs associated with biologics

Improving service efficiency

• The entire MDT have real time access to patient records at any HSE  location 24/7/365
• Evidence based best practice  assessments are conducted efficiently, standardising care across the MDT
• Integrates seamlessly with the hospital PAS and DXA machine eliminating the possibility of reordering investigations and duplication of effort
• Automatically generates GP letters and patient summaries, reducing the administrative burden
• The comprehensive reporting module ensures Cellma responds to all statutory, national and institutional reporting requirements, reducing the time dedicated to reporting

Collectively Cellma’s benefits significantly improve the quality of care delivered, patient safety and service efficiency. The cost of investing in Cellma is insignificant in comparison to the cash releasing benefits and efficiency savings demonstrated. Dr Carey commented on this saying;

“An American study showed that one in seven hospitalizations occur because previous health records were not available and that one in five lab tests were repeated because previous test results were not available at the point of care. The cost per capita of maintaining an electronic health records system is estimated at being only slightly more than the cost of one unnecessarily repeated lab test.”

Fellow ISR members concur with Dr Carey and are calling for all Irish medical specialties to use the same electronic health records system.

RioMed have been delivering outstanding medical software across Ireland for over 10 years, demonstrating numerous benefits to services including Diabetes, for which they have been awarded the Single Supplier Framework, Fracture Liaison and Rheumatology.

For more information or to arrange an online demonstration please do not hesitate to contact us on 02380 277044 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it