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Changing
Patient Care Delivery
UPMC is changing the way patient care is delivered through the
latest medical technologies, cutting-edge research, and emerging information
technology designed to provide physicians, health care providers, patients,
and consumers with more convenient and efficient access to the medical
information they need.
Medical
Technology
Information
Technology
Medical
Technology
At
the heart of UPMC is the region's finest academic medical
center. Through its affiliation with the University
of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and other schools
of the health sciences, UPMC shares in the academic mission of the
university by providing a broad range of programs in education, biomedical
research, training, health promotion, diagnosis, and treatment of human
disease and disability. UPMC dominates medical research in the Pittsburgh
region and has helped put Pittsburgh "on the map" with physicians,
researchers, and biotechnology experts worldwide.
Not
only does UPMC offer a full range of the latest treatments; in many cases,
UPMC physicians and researchers helped develop the treatments. Time and
again, UPMC's research has been recognized by the ultimate vote of confidence:
funding from the National Institutes of Health, private foundations, and
high-tech corporations.
UPMC
researchers continue to shape the medicine of tomorrow:
- UPMC
trials of gene therapy have produced some of the first, preliminary
successes in a revolutionary new approach to treating diseases as diverse
as arthritis, cancer,
and inherited genetic defects.
- UPMC has introduced more types of minimally
invasive surgery than any other hospital in the region, including
procedures for heart bypass, lung tumor removal, emphysema treatment,
same-day surgery for severe heartburn,
and esophageal cancer
removal.
- UPMC's
excellence in arthritis research has been recognized by a designation
by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin
Diseases as one of only 13 multipurpose Arthritis and Musculoskeletal
Disease Centers.
- UPMC
has been an internationally respected center for AIDS
research, playing a leading role in the development of new drug combinations
with superior ability to control HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
- UPMC
clinicians and bioengineers are working together to develop revolutionary
artificial hearts, lungs, kidneys, pancreases, livers, and blood substitutes.
- UPMC's
pioneering transplantation program is among the leading transplant centers
in the world, exploring new surgical techniques and ways of making patients'
bodies tolerate transplanted organs without drugs.
- UPMC's
Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic has become one of the most
highly respected centers for psychiatric research and treatment in the
world, and the single biggest recipient of federal psychiatric research
grants.
- Researchers
at Magee-Womens
Hospital of UPMC are leading in the search for better
treatments and preventive measures for cancer in women. These efforts
include an investigation of whether gynecologic application of viral
proteins will enable women to combat or avoid papilloma virus infections
that can lead to cervical cancer,
and breast MRI and digital mammography technologies that provide an
unparalleled ability to diagnose breast
cancer early.
- "Telehealth"
technology promises to provide face-to-face conferences and consultations
as well as detailed reviews of x-ray and microscopic data via telephone
lines – placing the skills of UPMC experts within easy reach of
health professionals around the world.
Information
Technology
National
industry journals continue to recognize UPMC as a leader
in using information technology (IT) to improve health care and customer
service.
A
key corporate initiative is to implement a secure, systemwide electronic
health record (EHR) to replace patients' paper charts, enabling patient
information to be accessible around the Health System instantly to authorized
physicians and staff. UPMC has partnered with the Cerner Corporation to
develop the EHR and its supporting technology. Providers will also have
access to a systemwide scheduling system that will improve efficiency
and cut waiting time for patients.
The
new Internet-based system will link UPMC's hospitals, physicians, and
surgical centers and satellites onto a central information network. That
network will interface with the UPMC Web site to provide a closer link
to patients.
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