Delegation from Turkmenistan Government Visit Sanford Bagley

BAGLEY, Minn– Sanford Bagley hosted delegates from the Turkmenistan government on Friday, May 19. These IT professionals met with hospital staff to discuss the use of Sanford’s Electronic Health Record (EHR) and other technologies at the medical center and clinics. The delegates took notes regarding ways to implement technology at hospitals in Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan is in a transition period of moving away from paper-based medical records into electronic storage. 

“To keep up with the rest of the world, we have switched to electronic management of documentation and records,” Merdan Abdullayevich Hudaykulov, a member of delegation, said through an interpreter.  

The switch from paper archives began about two years ago. Another delegate, Rovshen Atayevich Myatiyev, said the fingerprint scanners at the hospital’s pharmacy and a voice recognition system called “Dragon” at Sanford was particularly interesting.  

The trip was organized by the Open World Leadership Center. Open World is an exchange program between the US and post-Soviet era countries. The exchange program allows for current political and civic leaders to travel to the United States and interact with our government leaders and professional counterparts.

“We don’t know what exactly and where we’re going to use, but we’ve taken several notes to be discussed with (government) leadership upon return,” Hudaykulov said.