A smart card pilot project in a Canadian hospital has improved emergency room doctors’ efficiency, cutting down on patient waiting times.

The pilot, being conducted at Rockyview General Hospital in Calgary, began earlier this year, reports CTV. Instead of logging into multiple systems and terminals to get patient information, doctors use smart cards to retrieve these records.

The time savings produced by the smart card program have added the equivalent of one full-time physician per day, says Dr. Tom Rich, one of the emergency physicians. Wait times in Alberta hospitals are in the nine-hour range.

The project will be rolled out to other hospitals to learn if it has a similar effect in other settings.

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