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WVU Clinical Enterprise to Create “Magic” with the Implementation of Epic Applications
In the summer of 2006, WVU introduced a major project that will ultimately transform the way health information is managed within the University’s health care system. WVU Hospitals and University Health Associates signe d a $40 million contract with Epic Systems Corporation of Madison, Wisconsin, to design and install a campus-wide health information system.
The implementation of this health information system, internally named Merlin, will allow our health professionals to access all the information they need, on all of their patients, at any time and at any WVU site of care. Merlin will also allow WVU health professionals to better address the various health needs of our residents through robust research and quality care tools.
Under the leadership of Ann Chinnis, M.D., Executive Director of the Merlin Project, and Associate Dean for Clinical Informatics, the Merlin system will replace several dozen software packages in use at WVU physician offices on the Morgantown campus, WVU Cheat Lake Physicians office and at the WVU Harpers Ferry Family Medicine Center. It will also consolidate several systems being used at WVU Hospitals.
 Tens of thousands of hours of work have already been devoted to the project, including input from 120 Merlin core team members, 250 subject matter experts and 50 Epic employees.
The first wave of Merlin applications are scheduled to golive in spring of 2008.
- Wave 1: applications include: billing, registration, scheduling, health information management, radiology, part of emergency medicine, and results reporting. The second wave of Merlin applications are projected to golive in fall of 2008.
- Wave 2: applications include: pharmacy and bar coded medication administration, clinical documentation, clinical orders and results, operating room, and clinical decision support.
Inner-ear Volume Study at WVU Leads to Higher Surgery Success Rates
The American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation has published results from a study conducted by doctors in the WVU Department of Otolaryngology. The study measured success rates of patching eardrum holes based on volume or space measurements in the ear.
 Hassan Ramadan, M.D., and co-investigators, Daniel Merenda,M.D.; Kazunari Koike, Ph.D., and Majid Shafiei, M.D., have published findings that use a common test involving an audiologist’s probe tool, called a tympanometry, to measure the volume of ear space. The doctors found that having higher tympanogram volumes could result in a nearly 90 percent success rate for patching the perforation.
The typmanometry probe is commonly used by ear specialists and consists of a loudspeaker emitting a low frequency tone, a microphone measuring sound pressure levels in the ear canal and a manometer, that also measures pressure. Patients whose volume does not meet doctors’ measurement specifications should wait to have an ear operation. Dr. Ramadan warns that patching too early can either lead to a fluid build up or failure to close the hole.
 "Until this study, there were no clear guidelines as to when kids should have surgery to patch the holes."
- Hassan Ramadan, M.D
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WVU Orthopaedist Co-Authors Back Study
 A study in the May 31, 2007 edition of New England Journal
of Medicine, co-authored by Sanford Emery, M.D. Professor & Chair, WVU Department of Orthopaedics, shows a clear advantage for surgical treatment in one of the three most common back conditions for which patients seek treatment.
In cases of degenerative spondylolisthesis with spinal stenosis, a condition that affects six times as many women as men and is especially prevelant among African American women, surgery was twice as effective as non-surgical aproaches in reducing pain and restoring functionality for patients.
This paper is the second in a series detailing the findings of the Spine Patient Outcomes Research Trial (SPORT), a seven-year, $21 million, national study funded by the National Institutes of Health and led by James N. Weinstein, DO, MSc, lead author and chairman of the Departments of Orthopaedics at Dartmouth - Hitchcock Medical Center and Dartmouth Medical School.
 "Patients with back problems often must decide whether or not to have surgery -- and doctors advising them now have more scientific evidence about when surgery can be helpful."
- Sanford Emery, M.D.
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