The heart of the Heart Hospital--information technology

The Indiana Heart Hospital, located in Indianapolis, Indiana, opened on February 17, 2003, as the first all digital Heart Hospital in the United States. Physicians, nurses, and all the ancillary departments use computers to do physician orders, progress notes, nursing bedside documentation, procedure notes, and consultant notes. They also use computers to view laboratory results, x-rays, cardiac catheterization films, echocardiograms, and EKGs. This information is available not only while the clinician is in the building, but also from anywhere outside the hospital with Internet access. This purpose-made physical plant has been developed to accommodate and integrate all the new digital applications that are currently advancing cardiac surgical care today.