The Emergence of the Digital Hospital

How Technology is Transforming the Digital Hospital and Patient Experience New Delhi, July 22, 2016: Hospitals are the second most energy-intensive buildings after restaurants, and globally, healthcare costs are on the rise. Healthcare lags behind other industries when it comes to the implementation of information technology. The World Health Organisation estimates that 20-40% of resources spent on healthcare are wasted. These energy related and financial challenges are putting pressure on healthcare organizations to do more with less and reduce their operating costs without compromising quality of care. Today, hospitals are faced with building one of the most complex structures that can handle all these challenges and more. Healthcare facilities worldwide are meeting these challenges with smart infrastructure solutions. New advances in technology make it possible to integrate previously separate facility systems to form an “intelligent” hospital infrastructure. As a result, significant improvements in patient care and reductions in operational costs are possible. One way to do this is through effective energy management. The journey which a patient experiences will be affected by a variety of factors including clinicians, catering, cleaning, and the healthcare facility itself. By connecting medical and facility hardware and software and enabling wireless communication, medical staff can access the information they need, anytime, anywhere, in order to keep patients safe and satisfied. Mobile solutions allow practitioners to stay in continuous contact, whether at the patient’s bedside, in examination rooms, or in emergency treatment centers, to effectively develop and deliver patient assessments, and make more informed care decisions based on collaborative treatment plans.

Today’s healthcare consumers are increasingly using mobile apps to give them more control over their healthcare decisions at home, and they have come to expect the same level of control over their environment and experience within a hospital setting. The use of mobile apps for everything from depositing checks to renewing a driver’s license has made life more convenient and instantly gratifying for consumers. With the growing popularity of consumer healthcare and wellness mobile apps and the emerging use of patient information apps, mobile applications are transforming the way healthcare is delivered and accessed.

Unfortunately, many healthcare facilities are still in the digital slow lane when it comes to adopting mobile connectivity between their staff and patients. Although it’s common to see physicians with a tablet in hand at a patient’s bedside, patients must still request help with even the most mundane tasks, such as drawing the blinds, repositioning the television set or turning down the thermostat. This lack of personal control could lead to frustration for the patient, who cannot immediately meet his or her basic needs, and additional work for nurses who are already overwhelmed with the demands of a heavy patient load. It can also have a severe domino effect that starts with patient and staff discontent and leads to lower hospital satisfaction ratings and higher staff turnover rates.

Similarly, facility managers need immediate access to infrastructure information to ensure the comfort and safety of patients, staff and visitors. Hospital building systems are far more complex than in other types of facilities, with exponentially more moving parts. Often maintenance personnel are not even aware of a system issue or malfunction until someone enters a work order. This not only delays response time, but frustrates facility staff by placing them in perpetual “catch-up” mode.

More than half (54 percent) of healthcare executives rank patient experience and satisfaction among their top three priorities.For healthcare providers, there is value in delivering a high-quality, positive and engaging patient experience. One of the greatest opportunities for healthcare facilities to improve patient satisfaction, from small local clinics to large healthcare organizations, is to enable patients to stay connected to and in control of their hospital experience. The availability of mobile apps that connect staff, patients and the environment itself are a simple and effective way to improve patient satisfaction and empower staff to be more efficient and productive.

It’s evident that mobile apps are set to play a critical role in the future of healthcare. Adaptable mobile apps in particular – i.e. those tailored to provide automatic and on-demand information to the right user at the right time – enable hospital staff to stay in constant contact with patients and peers anytime, anywhere, leading to faster, more informed decision-making to improve overall staff efficiency and enhance the patient experience.

The impact of adaptable mobile apps on the hospital ecosystem

The deployment of adaptable mobile apps delivers tangible benefits to all stakeholders – patients, medical staff, facility staff and administrators. Here are a few examples of how they can have a positive impact on the hospital and patient experience:

Patients: When integrated with intelligent environmental systems for managing hospital infrastructure, an adaptable mobile app gives patients the ability to immediately view and change their room environment or direct their request to the appropriate person for prompt care. For example, various “widgets” or functions, allow patients to adjust temperature, humidity, lighting, entertainment systems and more, without needing to call a nurse or involve facilities management. By allowing the patient to have full control of their environment, it makes them feel their needs are being met and in the end leads to better patient comfort and overall satisfaction.

Nurses and physicians: Adaptable mobile apps reduce the number of tedious non-medical or “nuisance” tasks nurses are required to do, resulting in improved workflow, increased productivity, efficiency and job satisfaction. In fact, a St. Francis Medical Center study found that by directing some calls to aides rather than nurses, nurse time freed up by 22 percent and improved response time to critical calls5. By removing these non-medical responsibilities, nurses can focus on what matters most – patient care.

Facility managers: The integration of adaptable mobile apps can improve the communication and connectivity between facility managers and staff by providing virtual access to monitor and control the hospital infrastructure. Whether on a desktop, tablet or smartphone, facility managers can receive alerts and notifications, as well as access dashboards for electrical, hydraulic and mechanical infrastructure. This functionality increases efficiency by alerting facility staff to infrastructure events and malfunctions as they happen, resulting in faster response times and less frustrated staff, which translates into significant operational savings as well as improvement in employee job satisfaction.

Hospital executives/administrators: Through mobile apps, administrators can keep tabs on aggregate statistics such as room and bed availability, and performance data in areas such as energy spend. Administrators and executives have immediate and convenient access to information that is relevant to them, enabling them to make better informed business decisions and increase staff efficiency – resulting in improvements to both the patient and care giving experience.

Driving the next generation of patient care

Adaptable mobile apps tailored to the specific needs and environment of healthcare facilities will drive the next generation of patient care. Hospitals and providers who remain behind the mobile curve risk losing prospective patients to other healthcare facilities that have joined the mobile movement.

With adaptable mobile apps, healthcare facilities have the opportunity to take their technology infrastructure to the next level and find themselves better equipped to deal with new healthcare challenges waiting on the horizon.

Corporate Comm India (CCI Newswire)