How hospital solution helps porters get patients faster from A to B
Since December 2022, porters, nurses, and managers at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow have used Systematic’s Columna Flow Task Management. As a result, service staff can now complete their tasks without reporting back to their supervisor, saving both time and money.
Previously, the service staff at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow had limited autonomy over their daily tasks. Their supervisors manually assigned tasks and monitored their progress, which meant that the service staff had to report their availability for new tasks, resulting in a time-consuming task-handling process.
To address these challenges, the hospital implemented Columna Flow Task Management - a solution developed to support and optimise task management for hospital caregivers and service staff. Using the solution has increased autonomy and a stronger sense of control over tasks instead of relying on supervisor direction.
Columna Flow Task Management provides an intuitive interface for service staff to update task progress and status with a single tap. At the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, this has improved efficiency in task distribution, resulting in better patient flow and reduced waiting time.
- We have seen an improvement in our patient flow. Our main ambition has been to ensure that patients get from A to B as quickly and safely as possible and to support our clinical colleagues in meeting their targets, says Jamie Coleman, Portering Services Manager at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
In addition, nurses experience that tasks related to moving patients are being completed more efficiently:
“The workflow is more efficient because the porters can pick tasks on their phones. 90% of the time, tasks are done in a timely fashion, and patients are getting transported a lot quicker.”
The hospital's implementation of Columna Flow Task Management has removed the middleman by enabling service staff to pick their tasks from a prioritised list on their mobile devices. This provides the staff with greater autonomy over their daily work schedule.
Furthermore, this frees up time for supervisors to focus on other aspects of their job, for example, training of staff.
- In the old system, you needed four people to manage the computers. Now, you only need one. So, it has freed up three supervisors to complete other tasks they are meant to be doing, such as training, says Rory McGregor, Facilities Duty Supervisor at the hospital
“It sorts your day out a lot quicker. You know what to handle first, and you get an overview of upcoming tasks. So it is all better.”
The Columna Flow system allows leveraging data to drive better decisions. At Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Porter managers can now pull management reports to monitor performance and identify areas for improvement. The hospital has used the outcome of the reports to realign and restructure the service staff, resulting in much quicker task handling.
“We have used the reports to understand better where to put our staff. Rather than having a team of porters dedicated to the A&E department, we now have one big group of porters. It means that instead of having four assigned porters, they now have up to 16, resulting in faster task handling.”
Columna Flow Task Management supports and optimises task management for caregivers and service staff in a modern hospital. The solution enables staff to access and update task information on the go quickly.
Task status and responsibilities are reflected in real-time on coordinator screens so that department managers and coordinators can follow the current situation and near-future development. A better overview ensures better planning and limits the number of disruptions, delays, and communication errors.
Facts about the implementation
- Since December 2022, the hospital has been using Systematic’s Columna Flow Task Management System to manage tasks for its porters.
- The system allows service staff to receive, accept, and complete tasks on their mobile devices, reducing paperwork and improving efficiency.
- The system provides real-time data and analytics on the staff’s performance, workload, and availability, enabling better planning and coordination.
- By using Systematic’s Columna Flow Task Management, the hospital has improved the quality and safety of patient care, reduced waiting times and costs, and increased staff satisfaction.
If you also want to experience the described benefits at your hospital, please get in touch with us. We offer a tailored pilot setup that allows you to test our solutions in your hospital department for a limited period. Based on our previous trials, it is our experience that you will already see the effects of optimised task management after a few days of use.
We'd like to start by showing the solution and mapping out the improvement potential for your hospital. We are ready to offer guidance based on several years of experience in the field.
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