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• 2007

S&T Slovakia develops an integrated information system for hospital in Trstená

Improved information flow and costs reduction

In 2005, Trstená Hospital realised it needed to meet increasing requirements by health insurance companies for provision of medical and statistical data. “Very often it was impossible to collect the required data, because we simply did not have it,” explains Dušan Šurina, Deputy Director of the hospital’s economic and technical department. So in August 2005, the hospital issued invitation for bids for selection of an information system supplier and S&T won this tender. Most of the Euro 530,000 required for the project came from European Union structural funds and from the Slovakian national budget. “The project was carried out very successfully within one year and will save the hospital 20% in costs, as well as giving it a state-of-the-art information system that meets all its requirements,” says Christian Rosner, CEO of S&T AG.

Implementation in stages

Starting in June 2006, implementation of the IHIS took place in several stages and took about a year. Working together with subcontractors, S&T Slovakia developed an integrated IT infrastructure including networks, a camera monitoring system, a cluster server system and a system for storing hospital data. It also provided individual departments and divisions with computers from very reputable manufacturers. “In addition, S&T Slovakia gave the hospital a solution for safe Internet connection, electronic mail administration and administration of servers and computers connected to the IHIS and developed an intraweb portal for the hospital. Integrated technical service and support for the next two years also forms part of the contract,” says Milan Vrábel, Project Manager for S&T Slovakia.

State-of-the-art system

The IHIS is unique because it meets the needs of all areas of the hospital, i.e. medicine, business management, administration and payroll, as well as protection of property. “When we decided on this project, none of the hospitals in Slovakia had a similar integrated system covering all the mentioned areas,” emphasizes Dušan Šurina. In a subcontracting arrangement, STAPRO Slovensko provided the NIS MEDEA hospital information system. Individual modules of this information system correspond to the requirements of the National Register of Hospital Patients, inpatient wards, operating rooms, RTGs (radioisotope thermoelectric generators), pharmacies, laboratories, catering and haematology. The IHIS also includes an information system for managing registration orders, business and management. NOVEKON and VEMA also participated to the project as subcontractors.

Advantages for doctors and patients

Even at trial operation stage using the IHIS, doctors experienced improved reporting procedures, faster and higher quality information flow between individual departments, more transparent recording of costs and easier reporting to health insurance companies, in compliance with new quality indicators. The system supports processes for monitoring and quality management of the health care provided and effective spending of funds. “The main advantage for patients is high quality health documentation. Records are kept electronically and all doctors have access to the records. Therefore patients will not need to be re-examined just because someone forgot to file records,” is how one doctor at Trstená hospital describes the advantages of the new system.

Hospital with Polyclinic in Trstená

NsP Trstená (Hospital with Polyclinic in Trstená) has 12 inpatient and 4 outpatient wards and provides medical care for approximately 70000 inhabitants in the four districts of the Orava region, which includes the tourist centres of Roháče, Oravská dam and Oravice. Because of its location close to border, the hospital can provide acute care and services for domestic and foreign tourists. VÚC Žilina has provided financial backing for the hospital since 1 January 2003. In 2004, the NsP Trstená was one of the first hospitals in Slovakia to gain ISO 9001 quality certification.

S&T Slovakia

S&T Slovakia is one of the most important suppliers of integrated solutions in the area of information technologies. The company provides its customers with IT solutions including analysis of their needs, creation of strategy, delivery and implementation of technologies, consulting services, training, service and project funding. S&T has been operating successfully on the Slovak market since 1993. In 2005, it took over SAP specialist company VARIAS, which has a focus on system integration and implementation of SAP R/3 information systems and mySAP Business Suite solutions. S&T Slovakia currently has around 150 employees in four cities, Bratislava, Zilina, Banska-Bystrica and Kosice.

Medical solutions by S&T

S&T is the general representative of Philips Medical Systems in six countries: Slovakia, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Moldova. The product range includes: monitors, ECG equipment, defibrilators, breathing equipment, anaesthetic equipment, ultra-sound machines, computer tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, angiograph systems, infusion equipment, systems for automating allocation of medicines, and CytoCare robots.

IT market in Slovakia

The IT market in Slovakia is currently experiencing double-digit growth every year. EITO experts expect growth of 11.4% for 2007, and 13% for the IT services market. With IT spending of € 137 per head, Slovakia is in the middle of the table for Central and Eastern European countries. The total IT market in Slovakia has a volume of around US $1.2 billion. IT sales are expected to increase to US $ 1.5 billion by 2010.