Press releases

Yale-New Haven Hospital news release
Release date: April 20, 2005
Media contact: Mark D'Antonio, (203) 688-2493

Yale-New Haven Hospital becomes first hospital in Connecticut to use the LYNX system for improved patient service and quality

Yale-New Haven Hospital's adult emergency department has become the first in Connecticut to use the LYNX System, a template documentation system designed to log, chart, categorize, sort, save and retrieve patient information and give physicians, nurses and caregivers computerized access to vital patient information and records.

The LYNX system, in use at the Yale-New Haven Shoreline Medical Center (YNHSMC) in Guilford since February of 2005, was implemented at Yale-New Haven Hospital this past week. After experiencing resounding success at YNHSMC, the new system replaced the old method of creating a paper trail of documenting patient visits. Dr. Harry Moscovitz, medical director of the YNHSMC and the Yale-New Haven emergency department said "the system has already helped in the seamless, confidential transfer of information between the two sites. For example, the system allows streamlined care for patients seen one day in Guilford and the next day in New Haven for a specialty consultation."

The main goal of LYNX is to achieve more complete documentation for patient tracking by producing bar-coded, complaint-specific charts and forms to facilitate scanning and retrieval of all ED documentation.

"This new system will save time and enable us to serve our patients better," said Roberta Chuong, director of adult emergency medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital. " LYNX eliminates the duplication of the old method where the triage nurses log and document the patient's information, and then enter it into the patient's registration profile. In addition, doctors can access this new system and know exactly what was the last treatment this patient received. The patient chart is saved electronically and the retrieval process is instantaneous and constantly updated. Before, the actual file was a paper file and retrieval was much longer."

With the LYNX system, the triage nurse is also able to categorize the patient using documentation specific to the patient's complaint. Physicians and nurses will be able to view the patient's ED history and access patient records while in the ED, in all hospital clinics and units, or even in their own office through MD Link.

"This is going to be a great service for our patients because they will be quickly and efficiently entered into the system, we'll constantly have a log of their visit, so there should be instantaneous access to patient history for our staff," said Chuong. "LYNX will enable us to use data to better manage patient flow and in the end, give better care to our patients."

Yale-New Haven adult emergency department employees learn the new LYNX system. From left to right: Tara Miller, ED technical assistant; Thomas Kimberly, ED clinical nurse manager; and Bernadette Gallen, ED technical assistant.

Reporters: For more information on this release, contact Mark D'Antonio, (203) 688-2493.

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Last revised: May 2, 2005 (mv)

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