Dar Al Shifa Hospital (DASH) has achieved the highest level on the HIMSS EMRAM and O-EMRAM, making it the first hospital in Kuwait to achieve EMRAM Stage 7 validation.

EMRAM, or the Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model, measures the adoption and maturity of a health facility’s inpatient EMR capabilities from 0 to 7, while O-EMRAM measures its outpatient capabilities.

In November 2021, DASH became the first hospital in Kuwait to achieve Stage 6 validation on both the EMRAM and the O-EMRAM.

WHY IT MATTERS

This validation places Kuwait in the ranks of the few countries worldwide with health institutions that have achieved Stage 7. It reflects DASH’s capabilities and leadership, as well as the competence of the hospital's clinical, administrative and technical teams to achieve sustainable patient engagement and an advanced work environment for the medical team, in line with the latest technologies.

THE LARGER CONTEXT

DASH’s achievement follows the Almoosa Specialist Hospital in Saudi Arabia which was validated by HIMSS at Stage 7 of the EMRAM late last year.

Also in December 2021, Dr Soliman Fakeeh Hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia was awarded Stage 7 on the EMRAM, while Dr Sulaiman Al-Habib Medical Group in Al Khobar received Stage 7 EMRAM earlier in the year.

Meanwhile, King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was validated at Stage 7 of the HIMSS Adoption Model for Analytics Maturity (AMAM) in October 2021.

Three Saudi Arabian hospitals in the Mouwasat group based in Qatif, Damman and Riyadh also achieved Stage 7 EMRAM in June last year.

ON THE RECORD

Dr Ahmad Nasrallah, CEO, DASH, said: “The HIMSS Stage 7 award represents strong evidence of the high level the hospital has reached in terms of patient safety, and high security in adopting and maintaining the electronic medical records (EMR) data. This development will contribute to enhancing patient satisfaction, streamlining procedures and reducing errors in providing medical care. The achievement represents one milestone in a series of development projects currently in progress at DASH.”

Dr Mohammad Jasim, chief medical officer, DASH, said: “The achievement puts the hospital clinical teams on the development map of the clinical field technology regionally and globally. It will be a major factor in attracting and retaining the best clinical talents in the hospital and empowering them to utilise the best healthcare digital technologies in the various medical fields.”

John Rayner, regional director analytics, EMEA, HIMSS, said: “A clinical systems overview provided compelling pervasiveness of using statistics suggesting that the Cerner Millennium system is intuitive to use, resulting in an almost paperless hospital.

“The degree of structure within the medical, nursing and allied health professional record is a real highlight and may well serve as a reference in the future for those hospitals looking to strengthen their use of structured forms and structured narrative.”