The News Journal --  Delaware Blog

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Delaware’s congressional delegation — radically revamped by voters in November — made its first official appearance together Thursday since John C. Carney Jr. was sworn into office.

The three Democrats — Carney and U.S. Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons — joined a room full of medical professionals at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children to promote the switch to electronic medical records. The DuPont Hospital in Brandywine Hundred has had a system in place since April 2009 and about $19 billion in federal stimulus money is available for those who do likewise.

Carney said it was nice to enter the hospital by the front door for a change.

“Most of the time, we come through the emergency entrance,” he said.

The father of two sons, Carney said parents in Delaware know when kids are injured or sick A.I. duPont is the best place to take them – “no matter where you live in Delaware, and frankly, no matter where you live in the region, and frankly, no matter where you live in the country.”

Dr. Stephen Lawless, Nemours’ vice president of quality and safety, said the hospital saw significant improvements after moving to an electronic system in 2009, including a 22 percent decrease in surgical wound infections, an 18 percent increase in childhood immunizations, an error-free medication rate of 99.98 percent, and a near-zero rate of central-line infections in the hospital’s pediatric and neonatal intensive care units.