In the medical world, computer technology is a lifesaver.

Byline: John Haughom For The Register-Guard

There's a paradox in the delivery of health care in the United States: America is the go-to place for the most advanced medical procedures in the world - proce- dures based on years of well-financed, sophisticated research and on access to seemingly unlimited capital for the most high-tech equipment. Yet, we are also a country where patients die because someone did not verify a blood type, or because 100 cc of a drug was given to a patient instead of a recommended dose of 10 cc.

On one hand, our medical industry is a technological marvel where computers rule in the operating rooms, virtually guiding a surgeon's hand in a delicate process where a fraction of an inch could make a difference. Yet, much of the industry is still operating in the relative dark ages, using handwritten information that is passed back and forth by hand and storing medical records in color-tabbed charts on walls of shelves.

Just over a decade ago, I realized that health care could benefit tremendously by using technology as a repository and conduit of medical information. More and more was written about the use of computer technology to, in a sense, make up for our human frailty and deficiencies in order to enhance patient safety. I learned that cumbersome processes, for both the patient and clinical staff, could be streamlined by computers, and most importantly, that patient care could be dramatically improved by speeding up response time, establishing common quality protocols, and reducing human errors.

I gave up my gastroenterology practice to take a senior administrative position with PeaceHealth to help its staff design and implement an information technology infrastructure. PeaceHealth has always been a forward-thinking health care system and its leadership has embraced new ways of thinking to improve patient care. It's also willing to devote the necessary resources to achieve the improvement.

Today, the vision that Peace- Health leaders had in the mid-1990s has become a reality. All Peace- Health facilities in Alaska, Washington and Oregon now share standard hardware and software for practice management, lab systems, financial systems, clinical images and patient records. This commonality allows for the exchange and integration of data to support improved decision-making ability. And it's making a profound difference in the lives of our patients. Here's one example:

An elderly gentleman left Eugene by car to visit relatives in northern California for the holidays. On his return, he became confused and ended up critically ill in a muddy field in Woodland, Wash., during a major winter storm.

He was located by emergency services and brought to St. John's Medical Center in Longview, Wash., another PeaceHealth facility. The emergency department physician was able to immediately access critical clinical information regarding the patient's previous care at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Eugene that helped save his life. This information wouldn't have been available in a paper-based world.

Today, all of PeaceHealth's more than 300 employed physicians and approximately 1,000 affiliated independent physicians in three states can call up their patients' electronic records from their homes or offices, or from any PeaceHealth facility.

When a patient is admitted to Sacred Heart's emergency department, for example, the physician on duty can immediately access the patient's medical record and view physician notes and images from recent medical appointments. He can see a list of the patient's allergies, a prescription history, a recent X-ray or MRI scan.

Access to this kind of information at the time of treatment can significantly help the physician make the best decision for care. This access was simply not available in PeaceHealth a few short years ago, and still isn't is available in most health care systems in the U.S. today. Fewer than 15 percent of U.S. hospitals have such a full-fledged electronic medical record.

PeaceHealth has been named one of the 100 "Most Wired" health systems in the nation by the American Hospital Association for the fifth time in six years, and was honored as the feature presenter at the National Health Forum and AHA Leadership Summit, the only organization of the 100 Most Wired winners to be so recognized.

While the accolades are nice, we still have much to do. We are experimenting with computerizing the process of entering orders. If you recall a recent hospital stay that you or a family member experienced, you'll no doubt recall that nurses and physicians ordered a variety of medications and treatments. Those orders were likely handwritten, and unfortunately, some may have required a Ph.D. in hieroglyphics to decipher.

It's easy to understand how errors can occur - from poor handwriting to poor recordkeeping to poor person-to-person communica- tion.

In fact, a 1999 Institute of Medicine report found that at least 44,000 Americans die annually from preventable medical errors made in hospitals - and the number may be as high as 98,000.

Publication of that report brought the issue of patient safety to the forefront of the general public. The political and media spotlight has never been brighter on this issue. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson recently stated a goal that all Americans would have their medical records off paper and into an electronic form within 10 years. The support for enhancing patient safety by bringing health records into the computer age is across the political spectrum, with members of both parties calling to radically change how medical information is stored, exchanged and applied.

Change is never easy. But I'm seeing more and more support from physicians, nurses and others who are experiencing the patient care benefits of an electronic medical record.

After all, who can argue with a system that will save the lives of up to 100,000 people a year and shave about $140 billion annually off of the nation's health care bill?

John Haughom, M.D., is a PeaceHealth senior vice president with responsibility for improving the quality and safety of care using advanced technology.