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After a harrowing experience with her infant son earlier this year, Tegan Hutz left the IWK Health Centre thankful for the \u201camazing\u201d care her family received.<\/p>\n
She thought she would soon have answers about what led to her son\u2019s sudden onset of continuous seizures that resulted in a multi-day stay in the ICU. <\/p>\n
Instead, Hutz and her family faced a different set of questions when the Halifax-based children\u2019s hospital could not find records related to her son\u2019s care for more than two months.<\/p>\n
Initially, hospital staff could not even find proof that young Kayden Tolmie had been there at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was shocked,\u201d Hutz said during a recent interview. \u201cI was confused.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eventually staff were able to establish that Kayden had been at the IWK. But the records related to his care \u2014 which included two lumbar punctures, a battery of other tests and a followup MRI \u2014 were still missing. <\/p>\n
Link to missing records<\/p>\n
Because the records were missing, Kayden\u2019s family doctor and pediatrician did not have access to them, so he remained on anti-seizure medication.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe medication he\u2019s on is only supposed to be temporary, not long term,\u201d said Hutz. \u201cIt\u2019s very tough on his body and makes him extremely drowsy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hutz said there\u2019s been no explanation for what caused the records to go missing. However, during one call with the hospital, she was told that the site recently switched to a new electronic medical record system, also known as One Person One Record, and that this was likely a factor.<\/p>\n
The rollout of the new system in Nova Scotia has been years in the making and it made its debut at the IWK in December.<\/a> It has not been without issues and some staff and patients have raised concerns about it and its impact on workflow and care.<\/a><\/p>\n The IWK did not make someone available for an interview for this story.<\/p>\n In a statement, LeeAnn Larocque, the hospital\u2019s vice-president of clinical care and chief nurse executive, said that when a large-scale change is implemented, there can be instances where information does not appear in a timely manner in the location clinicians or patients anticipate.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen this occurs, it is taken very seriously and reviewed promptly,\u201d said Larocque.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have no evidence of a systemic issue resulting in permanent loss of entire patient records. We continue to monitor system performance closely and work with our provincial partners to address any workflow or integration challenges that are identified.\u201d<\/p>\n Larocque said any patient who believes test results or clinical records might be missing or who has not received followup communication within a discussed timeframe should contact their doctor, the clinic that treated them or the IWK\u2019s feedback service.<\/p>\n Central zone readies for rollout May 9<\/p>\n
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Health Minister Michelle Thompson says the rollout of One Person One Record will eventually lead to better communication across the health-care system. (Jeorge Sadi\/CBC)<\/p>\n