Yellowknife (Dec 15/04) - Doctors and nurses could soon say goodbye to paper and hello to a new world of electronic medical records.

Health care providers from across the NWT and Canada met in Yellowknife recently to learn more about a new Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system soon to be tested in Yellowknife and Hay River.

As symposium co-ordinator Christine Couturier explained, the system -- if adopted -- would replace the paper records currently used and streamline the information-sharing of doctors and nurses.

Couturier said precautions will be taken to ensure all electronic records remain private and secure.

For one thing, any electronic record system will exist behind the GNWT's computer network firewall. Additionally, it will be audited to see who is using the system and what records are being viewed.

She said only health professionals with authorization will be allowed access.

Before the pilot is even launched, a Privacy Impact Assessment will be conducted by an independent consultant, said Couturier. The project is currently in the planning phase, but city clinics are expected to start producing EMRs in addition to paper records by late January or early February.

Couturier said the aim is to "improve patient safety and outcomes." A doctor who needs a patient's file now needs to have it sent from the patient's usual point of care.

With the new system, a doctor in Stanton Territorial Hospital need only go to the nearest computer terminal and call up what he or she needs to know.

The pilot project will wrap-up at the end of May, said Couturier, and at that point it will be reviewed.

If it is deemed a success, the GNWT's Department of Health could implement it across the territory. The step after that is the adoption of EHRs, or Electronic Health Records, that could contain a person's entire medical history "of care delivered to you from cradle to grave," said Couturier.

The federal government is seeking, and largely funding, a pan-Canadian system of EHRs, which already exist in some jurisdictions.

That means a doctor in Edmonton treating a Northern patient could access that patient's history on a computer network.

"There was a tremendous amount of interest (at the symposium)," said Couturier, adding that there was a strong consensus in favour of adopting an EMR system.

The budget for the EMR pilot project is set at $250,000.

Additional money hasn't been allocated, pending reviews of the programs potential.