Samoa has reached a major milestone in its digital health programme with the Tamanu Electronic Health Record system now operating across Tupua Tamasese Meaole Hospital at Moto’otua.
The Australian High Commission in Samoa announced the successful launch, saying the system will allow healthcare providers to access patients’ records across different health facilities and visits.
Tamanu had already been introduced across Samoa’s rural district hospitals before its wider rollout at the national hospital.
The new system is expected to reduce the reliance on separate paper records and make it easier for authorised doctors, nurses and other health workers to review a patient’s medical history when providing treatment.
This could be particularly important for patients referred from rural hospitals to TTM Hospital, as their information can follow them through the health system instead of being held only at the facility where they were first treated.
The Samoa Ministry of Health had been preparing staff for the expansion of Tamanu across the remaining departments at TTM Hospital.
Before the rollout, clinical, nursing and support teams took part in onboarding and engagement sessions led partly by health workers from departments already using the system.
The Ministry said experienced staff shared the lessons, challenges and benefits they had encountered while moving from traditional processes to digital health records.
The training was intended to give workers greater confidence in using Tamanu and help hospital departments adjust to the new digital workflow.
Tamanu is a patient-level electronic medical record system developed by Australian organisation Beyond Essential Systems.
It can be used on desktop computers and mobile devices and is designed to continue collecting information when internet access is limited. Records stored offline can later be synchronised with a central server when a connection becomes available.
This feature makes the system suitable for rural and remote health facilities where internet connectivity may not always be reliable.
Australia has supported Samoa’s digital health programme through equipment, funding and technical assistance.
In June, the Ministry of Health acknowledged additional information and communications technology equipment provided by the Australian Government to strengthen healthcare services and support the implementation of digital systems.
Tamanu was first used in Samoa to support the national Covid-19 vaccination programme and maintain individual immunisation records.
The system has since developed into a broader electronic patient record platform intended to support more connected and coordinated healthcare across the country.
The Ministry has described the goal of the programme as creating one patient record and one connected health system for Samoa.
The launch at TTM Hospital represents an important step towards that goal, but the long-term success of the system will depend on continued staff training, reliable equipment, technical support and strong protection of confidential patient information.
This article is based on information released by the Australian High Commission in Samoa, the Samoa Ministry of Health and the Australian Government’s Indo-Pacific Centre for Health Security.
