A Smart Hospital is becoming everyone’s dream for the future. Here people, systems and processes are coupled and integrated so as to work flawlessly and in unison.
Globally, hospitals of today engage advanced technologies. Whilst medical devices are advanced by themselves, sophisticated support systems are also used for medical record archival and storage, image management, medication tracking, etc. In time hospitals also employ complex, secure data and communications networks to offer and manage Internet, telephony and IP connectivity throughout the hospital.
Today, a good part of this technology is not fully auto-coordinated as will be in a Smart Hospital and is situated at various locations resulting in a great amount of manual intervention. EMR should be accessible at every location housing clinicians and patients rather than be restricted for viewing only at limited sites in the hospital viz. nurse stations, administration office, etc. Technology should give way to manual noting of data in hard copy.
In a Smart Hospital everything is interconnected and individuals, processes and systems all work together in tandem. This positively impacts quality of patient care, containing cost of services, shortage of staff, privacy and safety, infrastructure limitations, efficiencies, more productive staff, etc. keeping costs in control.
However, the challenges for technology managers and service providers in the past decade has been the lack of integration between clinical systems and statutory norms governing security considering the multiple technology systems and service providers in a hospital.
Some technology companies employ existing voice and data networks in a hospital to link the incongruent systems, persons and processes to make economic sense for the hospital. This involves leveraging organizational technologies to make hospitals more effective.
Conclusion:
A Smart Hospital thus creates clinical teamwork even if caregivers are in multiple locations. The hospital staff too has greater mobility owing to the ease of accessibility. All stake holders, be they clinical or administrative, patients and other related, external entities can conduct virtual meetings using, for instance, wireless LAN technologies and still take meaningful decisions. The conventional mode of telephony and connectivity though is always available when required. All this impacts increased patient care and caregiver productivity.
Such integrated communications technologies can facilitate acceleration of workflows resulting in enhanced patient throughput, improved nursing and operational efficiency.
For the patient, he experiences interactive clinician contact both when within the hospital as well as when outside. Such an overwhelming experience for a patient can itself become part of a marketing strategy and effort for a Smart Hospital. Imagine a patient receiving a reminder for his doctor appointment or a follow up reminder. A clinician can monitor his patient’s progress remotely post hospitalisation giving the patient a total sense of confidence and security vis a vis his healthcare status.
Truly an awe-inspiring experience.
Author - Alex is Healthcare Consultant
Globally, hospitals of today engage advanced technologies. Whilst medical devices are advanced by themselves, sophisticated support systems are also used for medical record archival and storage, image management, medication tracking, etc. In time hospitals also employ complex, secure data and communications networks to offer and manage Internet, telephony and IP connectivity throughout the hospital.
Today, a good part of this technology is not fully auto-coordinated as will be in a Smart Hospital and is situated at various locations resulting in a great amount of manual intervention. EMR should be accessible at every location housing clinicians and patients rather than be restricted for viewing only at limited sites in the hospital viz. nurse stations, administration office, etc. Technology should give way to manual noting of data in hard copy.
In a Smart Hospital everything is interconnected and individuals, processes and systems all work together in tandem. This positively impacts quality of patient care, containing cost of services, shortage of staff, privacy and safety, infrastructure limitations, efficiencies, more productive staff, etc. keeping costs in control.
However, the challenges for technology managers and service providers in the past decade has been the lack of integration between clinical systems and statutory norms governing security considering the multiple technology systems and service providers in a hospital.
Some technology companies employ existing voice and data networks in a hospital to link the incongruent systems, persons and processes to make economic sense for the hospital. This involves leveraging organizational technologies to make hospitals more effective.
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The consequence of a Smart Hospital can be improved staff and clinician productivity, quicker patient throughput, increasing hospital revenue. It would also create a secure healthcare setting, offering protection to patients, staff and classified data.Conclusion:
A Smart Hospital thus creates clinical teamwork even if caregivers are in multiple locations. The hospital staff too has greater mobility owing to the ease of accessibility. All stake holders, be they clinical or administrative, patients and other related, external entities can conduct virtual meetings using, for instance, wireless LAN technologies and still take meaningful decisions. The conventional mode of telephony and connectivity though is always available when required. All this impacts increased patient care and caregiver productivity.
Such integrated communications technologies can facilitate acceleration of workflows resulting in enhanced patient throughput, improved nursing and operational efficiency.
For the patient, he experiences interactive clinician contact both when within the hospital as well as when outside. Such an overwhelming experience for a patient can itself become part of a marketing strategy and effort for a Smart Hospital. Imagine a patient receiving a reminder for his doctor appointment or a follow up reminder. A clinician can monitor his patient’s progress remotely post hospitalisation giving the patient a total sense of confidence and security vis a vis his healthcare status.
Truly an awe-inspiring experience.
Author - Alex is Healthcare Consultant
