The Burlingame Center for Psychiatric Research and Education's mission is to promote excellence in clinical care through research and education.
Clinical Information Management
The Burlingame Center supports quality management and program evaluation activities, monitors clinical care (e.g., evidence-based practices), maintains practice guideline documents, and conducts research related to hospital operations.
The Clinical Evaluation and Monitoring System (CEMS)
The Burlingame Center operates the hospital's computerized clinical decision support system CEMS. This automated decision support system, first developed by John W. Goethe, M.D. and Bonnie L. Szarek, R.N., supports the goal of assuring the optimal outcome for every patient.
The components of the system are:
- Psychotropic Guidelines: This on-line document summarizes key information about the use of selected psychiatric medications (dosages, therapeutic serum levels, indications and side effects). It also presents "decision trees" to guide drug selection. (more)
- Information Alerts: These computer-generated messages notify clinicians of events that do not conform to practice guidelines and medication protocols. Clinicians may respond to these notices by changing the treatment plan/diagnosis/laboratory orders to comply with "usual practice" (defined in the Pharmacotherapy Guidelines) or by documenting the reason for alternative treatment, using a standard form to record the response. (The response is then automatically entered as a progress note in the patient’s medical record.)
- Diagnostic Checklists (DCLs): The DCLs provide an automated method for assuring documentation of the key symptoms and behavioral issues that support the assigned diagnosis and for noting the degree of change in each symptom/behavior at subsequent evaluations (e.g., at discharge). There is a separate checklist for each psychiatric diagnosis that reflects DSM criteria for that diagnosis.
- Outcome Assessment Program (OAP): Clinical staff interview every patient at admission and discharge, using a brief questionnaire to assess items related to functioning and productivity. The patient is contacted at one, six, and twelve months post-discharge to assess functional status and subsequent psychiatric treatment received. Manager: Steve Woolley, M.P.H., D.Sc. Coordinator: Brenda Woznicki.
Investigational Therapies Service
The service offers access to psychiatric medications that are currently in development but not yet approved for use in routine clinical care. These medications can only be administered to individuals who participate in a formal research study. Click here for information about current studies.