Eye Center Bavaria

Optimum performance can only be achieved by those who can concentrate fully on their task. This is particularly true in medicine. The best possible care for patients is guaranteed when doctors and medical staff can devote 100% of their time to them.

The Augenzentrum Bayern is also aware of this requirement. A team of ophthalmologists, anesthetists, surgical assistants and medical assistants, as well as orthoptists, opticians/master opticians and specialist ophthalmological and administrative staff care for patients at various locations in Upper Bavaria. A wide range of operations are offered in a total of 6 operating theaters: Cataracts, glaucoma, corneoplasty, eyelid diseases and much more. For some time now, Verbund has wanted to improve processes in the operating room with regard to data access, research and documentation. “In terms of both professional law and the treatment contract, every operation we perform must be documented,” says Dr. Waldemar Bauer, Medical Director at Augenzentrum Bayern, describing the legal situation, which is equally binding for all German doctors. “This documentation includes surgery times, the course of anesthesia as well as diagnoses, information on procedures and the surgical team,” explains the Medical Director. It is no secret that the documentation process is complex and time-consuming for medical staff. This is because comprehensive image and video management has also been added in recent years. In its search for a flexible and practicable solution to relieve doctors and medical staff in the operating room, Augenzentrum Bayern found support from Rein Medical GmbH.

Documentation of image and video-supported operations

Image and video-supported operations make work in the operating theater safer and create new possibilities for documentation. However, it is crucial that image and video management solutions are not only high-performance, but also intuitive to use, because only then can they actually relieve the workload of operating room staff. In Bavaria, they were looking for a quick-to-use solution for documenting all procedures using images, which could also be easily connected to the existing practice information system and the image archive (PACS). “User-friendliness was very important to us, and the new solution also had to be economical to purchase and operate,” says Oliver Thieme, Technical Director at Augenzentrum Bayern, describing his company’s requirements. In collaboration with the external partner, a precise requirements profile was therefore drawn up, which then served as the basis for Rein Medical’s offer. Following the definition of the catalog of requirements, the Mönchengladbach-based company presented a proposed solution, which was agreed by the team and then commissioned for implementation.

Hardware and software from a single source

The solution: CLIINIO 424C touch panel PC systems and SMART OR recording software. Rein Medical has already equipped a total of four operating theaters and two more are planned. With its in-house hardware and software, the IT service provider has provided a scalable solution that guarantees safe operation for patients and staff. “We have equipped all four operating theaters in Bavaria with our CLINIO PCs as recorder hardware and with our software for managing all image and video sources,” reports Bernd Schmidtke, Head of Sales Germany at Rein Medical. “The panel PCs receive images and videos from the cameras or microscopes in the operating theater and store them locally,” explains Bernd Schmidtke. “Selected images are then selectively transferred to the respective patient file.” In addition to the pure installation, the external service provider is also responsible for adapting the interfaces to the existing image archives and the practice information system as well as for extensive customizing. Not only was the graphical user interface (GUI) adapted, but the functions requested by those responsible in Bavaria, such as a keyword search, were also implemented.

More time for patients

The Bavarian company is more than satisfied with the installation, but above all with the process optimization achieved. The solution could be used immediately by the medical and assisting staff without a training phase and was also highly accepted. “The administrative workload for our team has been drastically reduced,” says Dr. Waldemar Bauer, naming the biggest advantage of the new installation. “With the high number of procedures we carry out here, staff no longer have to enter data manually as before, but can select and load it directly from the worklist,” continues the Medical Director. ” Anyone can use the touch screen to access live images or archive material, and the images can also be added directly to the patient files,” says the Medical Director with satisfaction. The reduction in manual entries has also minimized the error rate at Augenzentrum Bayern, an equally important achievement alongside the optimized workflows. The decisive factor, however, is that there is now more time for the essentials: “The less we are occupied with administrative tasks, the more time we have for our patients,” Dr. Waldemar Bauer sums up. In Bavaria, the last two operating theaters will now be equipped, and the partner from the Lower Rhine will not be left out. “We were able to rely on our contacts at Rein Medical at all times during the project,” summarize the Medical Director and his Technical Director in equal measure. “We are very satisfied and will continue to rely on the expert support of Rein Medical in the future.”