TORREVIEJA HOSPITAL PRAISED BY MICROSOFT'S BILL GATES

News

Contributor / 2009-10-23 12:44:06

Torrevieja Hospital’s beaurocracy has been praised by none other than Microsoft's Bill Gates. Most hospitals in the world are still following the old fashioned method of huge amounts of paperwork, all stored in massive files, together with written prescriptions and diagnoses.

Torrevieja Hospital has been a forerunner in this aspect, and has been using modern technology to keep on top of the official paperwork.

The electronic filing system for medical records used here has been named as “The best in the world” by Microsoft, and has been recommended as an example to be followed by other hospitals throughout the world.

Each year the multinational company holds an event called “Saving Customers Money”. The jury is formed by Microsoft employees who vote for the candidates. The winner this year is Torrevieja Salud, which has 213,000 patients signed up, and deals with up to 600,000 patients every summer.

Luis Barcia, the hospital director, is thrilled with the accolade. He thanks Microsoft, as, without their operating systems the programme would not have been possible.

Microsoft have written a case study about the Torrevieja Hospital which can be found on their website.

The filing system, called Florence, stands out as it is not just a data base, but permits hospital staff to interact with each record and thus ease the whole process, and foresee possible future problems.

The system begins as soon as someone is admitted into the hospital. If they are rushed to ER and wait over a certain time the doctors on duty will receive a text message automatically to make them aware of the problem. This kind of message will also be sent to doctors when their patients’ medical test results are ready.

Tags: Torrevieja, Torrevieja Hospital, Microsoft, Bill Gates

Comments

Jacqui 28-10-2009 / 10:46

As someone that uses Torrevieja Hospital and the Health Centre, I can only praise the system and all the workers. Having lived here now for 6 years, I can compare with medical services in the UK and Torrevieja is far superior!

My grandson was born there just over two years ago and my daughter is due to have her other baby there in a few weeks... plus she has had to use the emergency services there a few times for both her and her my grandson... service is much faster than if we had gone to a UK hospital with the same problems... so if technology has helped services provided, I'm impressed!!!

Jim 28-10-2009 / 05:41

Johnny F - Technically speaking, Microsoft is owned by a group of shareholders! :-)

Aylyn 27-10-2009 / 11:49

Christina have you ever set foot in Torrevieja's Hospital? It does not sound like it. Do I detect an axe being ground?

Johnny F 26-10-2009 / 18:15

Surely it should be Bill Gates' Microsoft! ; -)

Andy Ormiston 25-10-2009 / 19:54

Poor Christine must have had a bad work experience. In fact, the team from USA working for Microsoft were at the hospital in August and were very very impressed, so this accolade is not new. Talks were also held with the possibility that Microsoft might (might) be interested in opening a branch in Torrevieja.

As far as slave labour is concerned, Health District 22, i.e. the Torreivjea Hospital has also won an award as a top company for which to work for based on information gleaned from its employees and I know a few who are very happy indeed to work there. In passing it should be noted that as an employee anyone can be moved around to anywhere in the area, so a nurse at the hospital could be sent to La Siesta Clinic for example, or someone in administation end up at La Loma Clinic.

Sorry, Christine, as an old fart I am very impressed by modern technology.

Christina 23-10-2009 / 13:57

Centralization of medical care by a small handful of technocrat slave drivers sounds like a waking nightmare. The entire Western employment standard has dropped in standard because of the people who would then also have direct access to this information. Young kids who pay through the nose for training, then working 50% unpaid overtime— literally sleeping on floors to meet deadlines, with no concern whatsoever from those in charge. Nobody— not government, or business people, would be safe from tampering, espionage and exploitation. Talk about taking the technology in the wrong direction! ***What*** are people thinking?!