Nottingham, MD | May 26, 2020 Wheeling Hospital and Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE) are implementing the Copernicus integration engine to provide electronic referrals for tissue donation. The new automated referral system will save hundreds of hours of hospital staff time and bolster the accurate and timely identification of potential organ donors. Especially during this time of the coronavirus public health emergency, reducing the time spent by ICU staff on administrative burdens is key.
Currently, nurses and physicians are required by federal regulation to notify CORE each time a patient meets the clinical referral requirement for organ or tissue donation and this was previously done by phone. At Wheeling Hospital, thousands of referrals are generated every year requiring significant time spent by health professionals making phone calls rather than providing clinical services. In addition, in the field of donation where time is always of the essence, CORE will receive referrals faster – in under twenty seconds – and will more rapidly deploy staff to cases that have tissue potential.
CORES’ TrueNorth system will, in turn, respond with a confirmation status message including a referral number, a time stamp and the status of the donor. The status message “closes the loop” so that Wheeling Hospital clinicians know the referral was received and is being responded to appropriately by CORE. All configurable, intelligent workflow in TrueNorth which has been in place since CORES’ 2009 implementation is in use.
The project planning began in 2019 with an information technology team looking to use existing Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems to perform the referral tasks now done by phone. Bruno Mastroianni, CIO of CORE spearheaded this project to gain operational efficiency. The “non-proprietary” nature of the Copernicus engine integration as well as Allscripts automation allows for replication in any hospital running the Allscripts EMR system.
About LifeLogics
LifeLogics, Inc. is a specialty data management solutions provider to the organ and tissue recovery and processing community. Founded in 2006, the company was launched with the support of a consortium of organ procurement organizations (OPOs). Today, LifeLogics has more than one-third of the organ processing community in the United States as customers via its flagship product, TrueNorth™ – the industry’s premier organ and tissue donor information solution. To learn more please visit lifelogics.org.
About Center for Organ Recovery & Education
The Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE) is one of 58 federally designated not-for-profit organ procurement organizations (OPOs) in the United States. CORE works closely with donor families and designated healthcare professionals to deliver the gift of hope by coordinating the surgical recovery of organs, tissues and corneas for transplantation. CORE also facilitates the computerized matching of donated organs, tissues and corneas. With integrity and compassion, CORES’ goal is to bridge the gap between donor families, health care providers and transplant recipients to forever transform lives. To learn more please visit core.org.
About Wheeling Hospital
Wheeling Hospital, founded in 1850, has served patients longer than any other hospital in West Virginia. Today, it is a 223-bed acute care facility with a medical staff of nearly 300 primary care and specialty physicians. The hospital provides a wide array of primary and tertiary care services. Services include: Emergency/Trauma Care; Cardiac Care, including interventional cardiology, TAVR, open heart surgery, electrophysiological studies and treatments, and cardiac rehab; accredited Comprehensive Cancer Care featuring the internationally recognized Schiffler Cancer Center; Surgical Services; Comprehensive Breast Care; The Center for Pediatrics; Ob/Gyn, including high-risk pregnancy services; Women’s Center with advanced, 3D mammography units; Physical Therapy and Rehab, including occupational, physical, speech and hand therapy; sports medicine; Corporate Health and wellness programs; Center for Audiology; and Medical Park Pharmacy, offering services to the public. To learn more please visit wheelinghospital.org.
