Information & Communication Technologies (ICTs) are part of our daily lives, but they are still a pending subject in areas as important as healthcare. However, the obstacles we are currently facing are pushing for a real change and digitalization that has begun to be a tool that must be taken into account in decision-making and the implementation of action plans.
A recent statement by the UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock for example, argued against technology sceptics, explaining that: “Better technology is vital and embracing it is the only way to make the NHS sustainable in the long term”.
Besides, he invited those fearful for change to visit hospitals where there is little or no digitalization and calculate the amount of staff timing spend searching for paper records, copying the same information from one system to another or even walking around the ward trying to figure out which patient has pressed the alert.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that implementing cutting edge technology in the healthcare system and improving patient flow systems not only provides infinite advantages but also approaches the main healthcare challenges in a comprehensive manner.
In this regard, digitalization based on Lean Healthcare nd Agile implementation & deployments principles are key to improving patient flow. Consequently, we will be able to put unnecessary time-consuming processes to one side, expanding the working border of medical professionals and placing the patient at the centre of clinical activity
Benefits of an optimized patient flow
• Increased visibility of the patient, their condition, location, and therefore their needs.
• Better communication between the different team-works.
• Reduced waiting times for both patients and staff.
How to improve and optimize patient flow?
Analogously, being able to coordinate all the teams interacting in the patient care to optimize the flow process as much as possible is a complex and tridimensional task. To make this possible, medical personnel, resources, orderlies, staff nurses, cleaning unit… must be able to know in advance when to act, so that the process flows as quickly and smoothly as possible. A delay in any part of the process produces a delay in the rest of the patient care chain.
The digital transformation of the healthcare system allows a substantial improvement in communication, visibility, and flow of processes and, therefore, optimization of healthcare.
A transformation made possible through MYSPHERA® technology and its solution ORvital®. This tool, which combines IoT-RTLS technology, provides reliable real-time information on patients, their state, their location, and the status of each process. This enables the right services to be requested with “Just-in-time” attention, the creation of automated tasks based on the patient’s status and location eliminates unnecessary communication between staff… A collaboration with technology that identifies process obstacles and bottlenecks, improving patient flow from admission, through transfers and discharge
