Improving hospital patient workflow
Here, in no particular order of priority, are some approaches hospitals could borrow — or use more effectively — from an airline terminal:
* Kiosks: Sure, hospitals use kiosks, but far too few hospitals bother. And when they do use kiosks, it’s largely about billing and perhaps appointment setting/confirmation. Why not create a “patient card” with the ability to display a patient’s care status on a kiosk (“Jane Smith is in imaging as of 5:32 p.m.”) and seed all of the main thoroughfares of the hospital? This would be of enormous help in orienting caregivers and for that matter, staff.
* Big-screen displays: Yes, obviously, patient information can’t be displayed as casually as flight departure/arrival updates. But if a patient gets a code (tied to the card) patients and bystanders could know where to go and when. In the OPD, smaller displays could show room-bound patients what activities are planned for them in what order. (Check out earlier post on Digital Signage)
* Wandering helpers: When airlines are particularly busy, they sometimes send out members of their staff to wade into lines and help passengers get where they are going. Equipped with an Android tablet accessing the same information as the kiosk, these hospital helpers could be stationed in high-traffic areas and available to help patients and family get where they need to be to participate in care. For patient-specific information, people could present their “patient card” and learn about the status and location of the specific patient.
Along with technology-based approaches like these, It would also be nice to see hospitals offer a terminal-like retail strip for visitors, many of whom spend huge blocks of time on the campus and don’t have a chance to eat properly or get small errands done. But that’s for another story, perhaps.
Adapted from original article here
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