Fewer footsteps and higher task completion rates with digital solution at Regional Hospital Viborg

Hospital staff at Regional Hospital Viborg have been using Columna Flow Task Management since March 2022. A study before and after implementation shows that the solution provides the hospital staff with a better overview of service tasks and optimises their planning and resource utilisation. Service assistants and medical lab technicians are now able to handle tasks while they are on the move. This has resulted in fewer wasted steps and improved workflow efficiencies.

Challenge

The staff took many wasted steps each day.
Oral handover of tasks resulted in challenges with managing the tasks that had been ordered.
The staff lacked an overview of how tasks should be prioritised.

Solution

Tasks requests can be set up directly in the solution.
The staff can select tasks from a prioritised list via their mobile devices when they are on the go.
The solution provides insight into task flow and performance data.

Benefits

Efficient task handling with a shared digital solution for ordering and executing tasks.
The staff have an overview and are able to control their working day because they can accept tasks via the app.
Data on performance, capacity and delays can be used for planning and improved resource utilisation.

Before 2022, the staff at Regional Hospital Viborg did not have any form of digital solution for handling service tasks. When they ordered tasks such as, for example, patient transport, it happened orally. This made it difficult to establish an overview and ensure that critical information was not lost. Medical samples were taken during regular hospital rounds every other hour. If a department did not need any samples taken, the medical lab technicians made the round in vain.

In March 2022, the hospital implemented a digital task solution to help address these challenges. The solution provides nurses, medical secretaries, and social and healthcare assistants with a clear list of the tasks as well as the status of the tasks ordered. The service assistants and medical lab technicians now have a mobile overview when following the progress of the tasks on their mobile phones. This has resulted in a more efficient service flow, improved coordination and greater job satisfaction.

In the solution, nurses, medical secretaries and social and healthcare assistants can order service tasks such as patient transport and taking samples. The tasks are displayed in order of priority on the staff’s mobile phone. They thus have a mobile list of tasks, which ensures that the tasks are solved in the order which makes the most sense.

At Regional Hospital Viborg, eight out of ten of the study’s participants find that the mobile list allows them to easily see whether they first have to transport a patient or take a blood sample from Mrs. Smith.

In addition, service assistants and medical lab technicians can, with a single click, accept tasks when they are on the move. At Regional Hospital Viborg, this has resulted in more efficient working days.

“I find that it’s easier to get an overview of and prioritise my tasks. My working day is more efficient because I avoid unnecessary walking by only accepting tasks which are in close proximity to the previous task."

Service assistant

Regional Hospital Viborg

In using the solution, staff such as nurses, medical secretaries and social and healthcare assistants can always stay up to date on when a patient is due to be collected or when a medical lab technician will come and take samples. In other words, they avoid having to make potentially disturbing phone calls when they need a task status. At Regional Hospital Viborg, 81% of participants find they can easily follow the status of the tasks which have been ordered.

“It’s much easier to use the system to order tasks instead of calling. The solution also provides a clear overview of which tasks have already been ordered."

Medical secretary

Regional Hospital Viborg

The solution minimises the number of phone calls, and is positive for the service staff and their working days.

“My days are easier, and I have a clearer idea of what I need to do compared to previously. I’m not disturbed nearly as much by telephone calls when I can accept tasks directly in the solution,” says a medical lab technician.

The solution streamlines the way in which the staff handle their tasks and helps to ensure they are executed on time. Compared with the participants’ experiences before the solution was implemented, 29% more participants now find that they can carry out the service tasks easily, quickly and on time.

Among the participants who order tasks, confidence in the tasks being performed on time has increased by 16%. It is thus more straightforward for them to plan their working day and the patient’s treatment.

“It’s easier to plan our working day and the treatments we provide to patients because we’re now able to order service tasks in advance and rely on them being completed on time."

Nurse

Regional Hospital Viborg

Columna Flow Task Management supports and optimises task handling at hospitals.

The solution enables care personnel to quickly order and stay up to date on tasks and their status. Service personnel can easily select tasks from a prioritised list based on an efficiency principle that takes the current workload and available resources into account. This results in efficient task handling, where service personnel are in control of their own working day. Patient waiting time is reduced while treatment planning is improved.

The status of tasks and the areas of responsibility are displayed in real-time on the coordinators’ screens so that the department managers and supervisors are always able to follow the current situation and developments at the hospital. Apart from improved planning, a better overview also minimises the number of disruptions, delays and communication errors.

Based on data on performance, capacity and delays, the task management function provides a valuable basis for decision-making. Data can, for example, be used to make decisions about whether the time at which staff report for work should change to ensure enough hands during busy periods.

Regional Hospital Viborg is the largest hospital in Hospitalsenhed Midt, which in addition to Viborg comprises the regional hospitals in Silkeborg and Skive as well as Hammel Neurorehabilitation and Research Centre (HNRC).
The hospital has about 500 beds and approx. 2,900 full-time employees.
The hospital’s nurses, medical secretaries, service assistants and medical lab technicians have used Task Management to support and optimise the handling of service tasks since March 2022.

To look at the effect of implementing Task Management at Regional Hospital Viborg, we have studied how the staff found handling tasks, both before and after implementation.
The study involved two questionnaires, one of which was sent to staff ordering tasks and the other to those who perform them.
The staff who order tasks are primarily nurses, medical secretaries, and social and healthcare assistants, while the staff who perform the tasks are service assistants and medical lab technicians.
The first questionnaire survey took place in March 2022 and had 79 respondents from the A&E department – with 58 respondents who order tasks and 21 who carry them out.
The second questionnaire survey took place in April 2023 and had 154 respondents from the A&E department, intensive care, X-ray and scanning etc. – with 113 respondents who order tasks and 41 who carry them out.

Would you also like to experience the benefits of Columna Flow Task Management at your hospital? We offer a customised pilot set-up that enables you to test our solution. A pilot test provides insight into the numerous functionalities and features that the solution offers.

Based on our experience from pilot tests at digital hospitals worldwide, you will experience significant benefits after just a few days of use.