BIDMC IT Team Manages Medical Records at 113th Boston Marathon
BIDMC to eventually help move the 26 mile, 385 yard race to an electronic medical record keeping system.
Date: 4/17/2009
BIDMC Contact: Zineb Marchoudi
Phone: 617-667-7305
Email: zmarchou@bidmc.harvard.edu
This year, members from BIDMC’s IT Security department coordinated and led the Medical Records Team (MRT) efforts during the 2009 113th Boston Marathon.
Sharon Tompkins, BIDMC IT Disaster Recovery Specialist, led the MRT as team captain. She was assisted by Mark Olson, BIDMC IT Security Manager; Michael K. Yamamoto, BIDMC IT Security Engineer, CISA, CISSP; Michelle Frayman, BIDMC IT Security Engineer, CISSP; and a volunteer from Wilmington Pediatrics, Susan Pelletier, a Medical Assistant. The Medical Records Team consisted of 45 volunteers from various backgrounds, including 2 doctors from New York about 20 students from the BU’s Red Cross Group.
The role of the MRT was to assist the physicians, podiatrists, nurses, athletic trainers, and physical therapists record the care given to each athlete in the two medical tents. This year nearly 30,000 runners participated in the marathon race with only about 1100 requiring medical assistance at the finish line.
Over the past two months the BIDMC IT Security Team worked closely with the BAA Medical Coordinator to redesign a more efficient medical records form that was well received by the BAA medical staff. Over the next several months they will continue working to move the current paper medical records process for the 26 mile, 385 yard race to an electronic medical record keeping system.
“It was good that we participated in the manual medical records process this year. We were able to gather a lot of data about how the BAA Medical Records Team managed the paper records process in the past which will help us to develop a more strategic process for moving it to the electronic process next year.” said Tompkins.
The BIDMC team got involved because Tompkins said this supports CIO John Halamka’s vision of bringing medical records into the digital age. Being part of the 2009 BAA Medical Records Team presented an opportunity to observe how the paper medical records system currently operates so they can make a recommendation on how best to move forward.
So how does it all work now?
With tens of thousands of runners participating in the BAA Boston Marathon, and a large influx of runners at the finish line within a two hour period, the two medical tents located in Copley Square have been likened to a M.A.S.H. unit.
At the finish line there were about 150 to 200 people equipped with wheelchairs acting as the ‘sweep’ team. Their motto is ‘no one hits the ground’. The sweep team is the first line of defense and is responsible for triaging the runners to appropriate treatment areas within the medical tents.
Once inside the tent, each runner’s bib is scanned for tracking purposes. Each of 40 MRT volunteers escorts the sweep team member and runner to an assigned treatment section and provides assistance as needed to complete the medical records form. Others collect the Medical Record Forms and distribute follow-up sheets as athletes exit the medical tents / or are transported to other medical facilities.
It was Tompkins responsibility to coordinate the ‘medical records runners’ and make sure that the medical records were accessed and returned promptly and efficiently. Coordinating 45 people with over two and half blocks to cover between medical tents may seem like a daunting task, but Tompkins said she was calm & sure prior to the race. “We have a solid plan in place and a really great team,” said Tompkins. “I know there are going to be bumps and bruises along the way but everything will work out in the end.”
