The traditional healthcare model had already shown signs of collapse before the pandemic, and this crisis has only accelerated the digitalization process that our system has needed for years.
Although it is true that both the health emergency situation and the technological boom that the sector has experienced in the last year and a half can still be overwhelming. What is really important is the step that has been taken to solve 3 challenges facing healthcare, and even more so in the aftermath of the pandemic.
The three main obstacles are waiting lists, the exhaustion of medical professionals, and, consequently, the satisfaction of patients with the care they receive.
#1st health challenge: Waiting lists
It is clear that COVID-19 has pushed waiting lists to alarming levels. However, waiting lists were already an obstacle to optimal and efficient healthcare before 2020.
Patients on waiting list not only see the quality of their care diminished, but this situation can even lead to a worsening of their health in the medium and long term.
#2nd health challenge: Health professional burnout
Health worker burnout is real, it was real before COVID-19, and it has reached the extreme today. In fact, according to Spanish Mutual Médica: ‘sick leave records among doctors increased by 180 percent in 2020 during the strongest months of the pandemic compared to the same period the previous year’.
A reality that is difficult to combine with the current emergency situation, an ageing population with greater healthcare needs, increased concern for patient safety, and the quality of care received.
#3rd health challenge: Patient satisfaction with healthcare
The third health challenge arises precisely from a combination of the first two: how can the health system ensure that the population has a good perception of health care if doctors are exhausted, often overstretched, and there are insufficient resources to care for them?
The solution to address these challenges is within reach: Improving data and processes in real time with digital health transformation
The first step in being able to address a complex situation is to gain a deep understanding of the scale of the problem through accurate and timely data. The more accurate the data, the more and better decisions healthcare institutions can make and therefore positively impact patient flow, patient satisfaction and enhance key healthcare objectives.
Only with accurate real-time data and information will a hospital be able to reduce its waiting times at different stages of patient flow, optimise resources and staff and therefore deliver the best possible quality of care.
However, data also presents its own hurdles.
– To be able to access the information when it is needed in the vast amount of data that a hospital collects.
– To have the data entered correctly in real time.
– To have it available in a form in which it is easy to make decisions. The data itself is not enough, it is necessary to be able to visualise it in a cohesive and coherent way.
What if a technological solution could eliminate these challenges, provide information and data in real time so that each hospital could see its processes and be able to analyse them effectively?
This is precisely where an IoT-RTLS solution like ORvital plays a key role. A smart, multi-purpose system that not only provides real-time patient and resource data, but is also able to orchestrate and automate tasks, eliminate resource downtime, efficiently organise surgical scheduling and even provide real-time information to family members.
