This World Mental Health Day 2021, Cerner is celebrating the commitment of our clients to the wellbeing of their patients and staff. Mental health has traditionally been a taboo subject, the effects of which were often downplayed, but in recent years, there has been a seismic shift in the approach toward mental health across the world.

The importance of mental health is slowly becoming as talked about as physical wellbeing. The COVID-19 pandemic has had untold effects on individuals’ mental wellbeing, including those suffering from the infection, those confined to isolation to prevent the spread and, increasingly, those treating patients during this time. Over the past 18-24 months, we have seen a huge increase in the commissioning of services within the healthcare sector for the assessment and treatment of mental illness. The keys to the success of these services are sustainable solutions that make the treatment of patients easy. To attain sustainability, there must be a heavy focus on data and research related to mental health. Cerner behavioral health workflows have been integral in assisting healthcare providers in the Middle East to achieve optimal health and wellness for their patients through data-driven, preventative and supportive solutions as well as services.

“The greatest barrier to accessing services is the stigma that surrounds mental health. The biggest fear in some cultures is what if someone finds out? Complete anonymity and confidentiality are key to allaying the fears of people in need of support. The introduction of Cerner Behavioral Health has provided a much greater level of security and allows our service to give complete assurance as to the level of confidentiality we apply. The combination of a bespoke system with higher levels of sensitivity and security is already making a difference to the lives of people.”

 

Iain Francis Tulley

Chief executive, Mental Health Service, Hamad Medical Corporation

National health strategy lead, Mental Health and Wellbeing, Ministry of Public Health, Qatar

What is Cerner Behavioral Health?

Cerner Behavioral Health is an industry recognized technology, which has enabled providers to engage in patient management and care more safely and effectively. The solution supports holistic care with patient-centric workflows and integration throughout the health system to ensure that the clinician has access to the relevant tools and information to best treat the patient, whilst also supporting different layers of confidentiality which is of even greater importance in the mental healthcare setting. By providing clinicians with patient-identifying information through an intuitive user-interface, the platform facilitates documenting patient status, location, patient safety concerns and precautions, and patient activities.

Treatment planning

Thanks to the exhaustive library of screening and assessment content, Cerner Behavioral Health has been proven to be a powerful tool for treatment planning and delivery. Our interactive dashboards, documentation tools and embedded clinical decision support features provide the entire care team with the tools to improve the efficiency of workflows, reduce time spent in the EHR and drive better clinical, financial and operational outcomes.

Assessments and therapy documentation

Cerner recognizes the difference in care delivery between patients with physical and mental challenges. Within the mental health setting, there is a much greater influence placed on supportive and group therapies as well as a difference in familial support. Our behavioral health tools have been designed with this in mind and support clinicians and therapists in the documentation of individual, group, and family therapies in a unified multi-patient view.

Patient and clinician safety/confidentiality

Safety is of paramount importance in the mental health setting and is equally as important for both patients and clinicians. Our solutions have supported clients in the Middle East in tracking multi-patient safety checks together with attendance rounds and allowing the capture of information such as patient location, safety concerns, precautions and activities. In addition, we have helped clients to safeguard the patient record through additional layers of confidentiality associated with the mental health encounter.

“As a Cerner project manager with a background in clinical psychology, I have seen firsthand the impact that Cerner's Behavioral Health solution can have on the workflows of the wider multi-disciplinary team.”

Jutta Buernheim

Cerner project manager

Learning and adoption

As with many treatments for mental health conditions, Cerner’s implementation of the Behavioral Health module is built upon a foundation of collaboration and growth.

Knowledge transfer is often the key element in adoption of new systems and over the last 18 months this area has been very challenging. Where traditionally Cerner would have employed a classroom model in the Middle East, we have had to be creative and utilize all the technology available to effectively engage with end users. Training has been delivered using a combination of video workflow walkthroughs, interactive demonstrations and virtual user post-course assessments. These methods have ensured end users hit the ground running. One key element has been the engagement with the client in the use of facility coordinators. These coordinators have provided a crucial bridge between end users and the IT project team, which combines knowledge about the support for the Behavioral Health solution implementation and the impact on the end user’s daily activity. They have also been part of the first line of support at go-live, providing at-the-elbow support to their peers.

Our commitment

Our growing commitment to mental health is in no way better underpinned than through the appointment of Dr David Feinberg as our new president and CEO. Dr Feinberg, a pediatric psychiatrist by background, has built his career on improving the patient experience and access to healthcare for disadvantaged populations.

The greatest impact I can have on healthcare quality and accessibility is at a company where every day we wake up thinking about how to use technology to improve people’s lives. That’s why I chose Cerner.

Dr David T Feinberg

President and CEO, Cerner

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