In the context of the start of the preparation for the launch of the National Health Information System (I-Seha) in health centers:I-Seha system application briefly explained to staff in Bahrain and Kuwait Health Center in Hidd

Based on the directives of the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health Dr. Aisha Mubarak Buanq and Dr. Maryam Al Jalahma (Assistant Undersecretary for Primary Care & Public Health); the director of Health Information Directorate Mr. Khalid Al Jalahma stated that the National Health Information System (I-SEHA) team has started informing and preparing both administrative and medical staff working at the Bahrain and Kuwait (BBK) Health Center. During September of the current year, this center will host the launch of the first phase of Primary Health Care for I-Seha, in collaboration with Indra. BBK Hidd Center will be the first health center to host I-Seha in Muharraq Governorate centers and the other centers. The project manager of health applications, Dr. Mateu Huguet- representative of Indra has explained an overall view of the strategic significance of the health project, which will create a substantial change in electronic health services provided by the Ministry of Health. Dr. Mateu introduced the Deployment, Change Management and Training teams for primary health care from Indra. Each team will have major tasks in the launch of the system in BBK Hidd Health Center. Dr. Mateu announced the Electronic Health systems' services that will be launched, which include: Scheduling & Appointments, Radiology, Laboratory, Pharmacy, and Requests & Referrals. The Electronic Health Record for Primary Healthcare will be included as a part of the patient's electronic record in the national project. A study of all services provided by health centers is performed in order to launch these services within both the health system and the Electronic Health Record. Patient history for example will be electronically collected and recorded; which means that support from medical and administrative staff is essential in order to improve understanding and implementation of the system, which will facilitate tasks and provide all the requirements that contribute to the efficiency of the diagnosis process and treatment. As the Ministry of Health’s major objectives is to move from paper to electronic medical records, and to make all Radiology departments filmless.The general plan for the implementation of this important project for the coming months of this year has been presented, including the preparation of health application infrastructure. The training plan has been presented to BBK health center staff to prepare them for the use of I-Seha. It has been assured that the support team for the project will be directly and continually communicating with the system users. This team will stay in BBK health center for a month of system deployment, in order to keep a close eye on the difficulties and problems that users may face at the beginning of the implementation. This will be very beneficial for the team to use during the implementation phase of the rest of the health centers in Muharrq region, which will be applied in one month of implementing the application in BBK health center. Mr. Khalid Ghaloua the deployment manager of primary health care from Indra briefed the audience on the tasks which will be performed by users of I-Seha during the implementation phase at BBK health center in Hidd. All the staff from different departments whether doctors, nurses, radiologists, laboratory technicians, pharmacists or medical records employees will play a critical role during the implementation of this national system in its first stage. The changes in the way of performing routine tasks in these departments, including how doctors are going to work after the launch of the I-Seha have been explained by Mr. Khalid. The internal workflow that health center departments are going to follow after the deployment of the health system has been explained, including the workflow with King Hamad University Hospital particularly with respect to electronic requests and referral of patients, radiology and laboratory requests. The workflow regarding referring the patients to outpatient clinics at Salmaniya Medical Complex has also been addressed. In conclusion the importance of communication with patients has been stressed, where the focus should always be on the patient, even though the national system and computers were introduced to improve the work in the health sector and not as barrier to communicate with the patient directly during the diagnosis and treatment. “Listening to the patient first and then documenting in the health system is the best way to communicate with patients” Dr. Mateu stated. Moreover the difficulties expected during the launch of the national health system with consideration of the number of patients frequently visiting the center were discussed. Hidd staff had expressed their satisfaction that the application of this system will increase the efficiency of health services. The cooperation of everyone, both patients and health care providers as well as national project deployment team is critical to the success of the project. This national project will seek to implement a national electronic health system on Kingdom level, where it is considered as one of the main pillars for the development of health services in the Kingdom of Bahrain.