Joël Louisy, CIO at the CH de Saint-Quentin, collaborates with the establishment’s anaesthesia team. Their shared objective was the quality of care and patient management. Having already installed the pre-assessment module (Diane Poa), the establishment has since adopted the anaesthetic monitoring software for the operating theatre (Diane Aims), which it is progressively rolling out whilst continuing to explore an interoperability project linked to the establishment’s patient record system (Orbis – Dedalus).
Deploying an IT tool for anaesthetic monitoring in the operating theatre
“When I took up my post as CIO in 2021, the Diane Poa solution had already been in use at the site for 10 years. Discussions were underway to deploy an anaesthetic monitoring solution for the operating theatre.”
Joël Louisy, CIO – CH de Saint-Quentin
The anaesthetists chose the Diane Aims software suite, a tried-and-tested product highly regarded by professionals, which posed a challenge to overcome the financial constraints.
“Between the costs associated with purchasing workstations and licences, the budget for this type of project is substantial for an establishment. This is why Bow Medical proposed an incremental deployment approach. Working in collaboration with the medical teams, the decision was taken to install all 14 operating theatres progressively.”
At a rate of 4 to 5 rooms per year, the deployment is now in its final phase, and the teams will next work on rolling out Diane Aims in the recovery room, which has around twenty beds. This strategy is working well.
A dedicated deployment team validates the various stages and addresses the challenges inherent to this type of project:
- room maintenance,
- equipment selection
- compatibility (articulated arms, connectable ventilators, PCs, etc.)
“During the deployment, the Bow Medical teams provided excellent guidance, the exchange was of high quality, and their support is responsive — which is greatly appreciated,”
Joël Louisy, CIO – CH de Saint-Quentin
Diane: The Complete and Intuitive Critical Care Software
Diane has won unanimous approval amongst the establishment’s 13 anaesthetists. Perfectly suited to specialists’ needs, “it is a comprehensive and intuitive product,” the CIO emphasises, also noting the graphical improvements made in recent years. “The interface is more refined and visually appealing.”
Adopting recognised, tried-and-tested software is a modernising factor for the establishment, but it is also a factor in attracting talent.
“The fact that we use the same tool as our reference university hospital is a reassuring factor for the anaesthesia trainees who join us, as they are already familiar with it.”
The Software Deployment Team
“CIO, IT lead for our patient record, biomedical engineer, anaesthetist, anaesthetic nurse (IADE)… so many different roles and areas of expertise, yet we share a common goal: the quality of care and patient management,” Joël Louisy explains.
“This is why we all work in a spirit of good collaboration. We have come to understand each other’s constraints and priorities. For a CIO, adding a module to the information system can impede the flow of medical information or lead to siloing of that information. As such, the clinicians collaborate to ensure the necessary information is surfaced.”
The CIO particularly values working with the anaesthetists: “They are highly demanding professionals, but also very understanding!”
Interoperability with the Hospital Information System
The establishment is working on an interoperability project. The goal is to have a unified patient record and a more comprehensive approach to care.
“As a first step, we are going to deploy a solution that enables the automatic transcription of digital or handwritten prescriptions. Using a simple photo taken on a mobile phone, the solution from POSOS, a Bow Medical partner, recognises and transcribes the INNs and dosages, feeding them directly into Diane.”
The establishment wishes to go further:
“We aim to have a prescribing interface between Diane and ORBIS so that prescriptions made in Diane are fed directly into our patient record. The objective is not only to facilitate and streamline the transmission of prescriptions, but also to prevent drug interactions.
Bow Medical and Dedalus are currently working on this project. We are aware that it is an ambitious undertaking — PN13 interfaces being particularly sensitive — but it will enable a truly seamless patient pathway and improved safety in the medicines management process.”
About Bow Medical
Bow Medical develops the Diane software platform. Used by more than 450 hospitals and clinics, it handles 5 million anaesthesia consultations a year, accounting for 70 per cent of computerised consultations in France. More than 3,000 operating theatres and 1,200 intensive care beds use Diane for patient management.
