Guys and St Thomas' Hospital trust is introducing an electronic clinical record, creating a completely paperless environment in its intensive care unit.

Each of the 30 beds in the intensive care unit will be equipped with CareVue workstations from Agilent Technologies. These will allow integration of data from devices such as ventilators, ECGs, infusion pumps and blood gas analysers.

The flat-screen workstations will allow clinical staff to chart and integrate all records electronically. Ending paper records is intended to give nurses more time to spend with patients as well as providing a complete clinical record. All notes, records and drug administration data from the system will be stored on a central server and information can be viewed in a variety of formats, with summaries available at the click of a button.

The co-ordination of electronic data, including drug information, has the advantage of acting as an effective risk-management system, while remote workstations situated in doctors' offices also allow the opportunity for critical care research.

The installation of the CareVue system followed a lengthy procurement process, with a number of systems reviewed over a three-year period.