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New England Hospital Cuts Records Retrieval Time 300% with Fuji M Drive
Since 1996, Anna Jaques Hospital of Newburyport, MA, has stored its medical
records on 16mm roll microfilm. Each image on the film is numbered and encoded,
and then the roll is loaded into a plastic cartridge. In addition, an index
of information about each record is stored in a database for use in a computer-assisted
retrieval (CAR) system. The index allows operators to search a roll of film
using a patient's name, medical record number, year of last discharge, roll
number, frame number and file number. Still, accessing the information was difficult
because of the age and condition of the hospital's reader/printer. Locating
a single record took 15 minutes or more.
The M Drive Digital Solution
In late 1997, Michelle Butler, Director of Medical Records, started looking
for a faster way to access her records. She contacted New England Micrographics,
Inc., of Manchester, NH, which had been helping the hospital with its records
conversion to microfilm. They recommended the M Drive from Fuji. The M Drive
is a microfilm drive that connects to almost any PC. Once installed using a
standard SCSI interface, an operator can put in a 16mm cartridge, key in the
location of the record and the unit will find and scan the image and bring it
up on the PC monitor in seconds. Then this digital image can be enhanced, printed
or saved as a bitmap or TIFF file.
Superior Quality Images
After Butler saw a demonstration of the M Drive, she was convinced that the
new technology was the best way to retrieve her microfilm records. She could
connect the M Drive to an existing PC and print directly through one of the
hospital's laser printers. And because the film images are scanned directly
from the film--not projected onto a screen--images are of superior quality compared
to standard microfilm reader/printers. Also, operators can program the M Drive
to batch print or print an entire chart with a single command. Butler also liked
the fact that the unit cost less than $20,000. It made her decision a lot easier.
Fast, Easy Training
The M Drive uses Windows-based software, so it's easy to search and retrieve
records, and even adjust the size, exposure and density of images. And the database
appears in a window on the computer monitor, which means the search and retrieval
functions are on the same workstation. Because the system is so easy to operate--just
point and click--training the hospital's staff took less than a day.
Big Time Savings
Michelle Butler feels that the M Drive from Fuji was the best choice for locating,
viewing and printing the microfilmed records at Anna Jaques Hospital. "It saves
a lot of time," she said. "Before the M Drive was installed, retrieval of a
record took a minimum of 15 minutes. Now it takes less than five."
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