The Development of Electronic Medical Records System (EMRS) for MRC Unit The Gambia Clinical Services Department (CSD) project is a major project milestone which serves as a tool to aid physicians and clinicians to improve quality care, patient safety and reduce costs.
Spearheaded by Bai Lamin Dondeh Head of the Data Management Department, Department in collaboration with the then Head and the current Acting Head of Clinical Services Drs Suzanne Anderson and Karen Forrest and their team, phase one of the implementation process of EMRS started in March 2015. To date the team has completed the automation of the Records Office, lab requests and reporting of results including billing. Subsequent phases of the project will include; automation of the Gate Clinic, pharmacy, inventory of stock as well as the in-patient clinic.

Moving into automation with the EMRS has significantly improved efficiency, speed, and safety within the CSD. It enables a seamless and timely flow of information with regards to streamlined processes as well as implement automated validation controls in critical areas of the system. Time spent on capturing and confirming information has been reduced drastically. The system enables the various groups within the CSD i.e. doctors, labs, pharmacists, billing to share information as the patients proceed through the clinic. In the not so distant future, the aim is to work on integrating the EMRS with Electronic Data Capture (EDC) systems used in clinical research to facilitate research. Such a functional integration will eliminate transcription errors, facilitate retrospective study analysis, and serve as the primary resource for clinical care.

Within a broader context, the future of EMR-EDC integration will provide opportunities for secondary use of data and automated decision support systems.