Systematic to digitalise patient flow at new Central Hospital in Finland

Päijät-Sote in Lahti has just signed an agreement with Systematic on a solution that will help improve clinical logistics services and patient flow management at their hospitals. The solution is called Columna Flow Clinical Logistics and is offered in collaboration with Getinge Cetrea, which is a part of the Swedish medical technology company Getinge Group. The solution offers complete control of the patient flow from arrival to discharge by facilitating coordination, collaboration, and communication in and across hospital departments. Päijät-Sote provides primary and secondary health care as well as social care services to a population of approximately 210,000 citizens.

Modernisation of workflows and facilities

The new contract covers the whole area of Päijät-Sote, but the first roll-out of the solution will take place at the new facilities of Päijät-Häme Central Hospital located in the city of Lahti. With more than 330 beds, Päijät-Häme Central Hospital handles around 120,000 citizen visits on a yearly basis. This puts a demand on efficient workflows as well as smart and modern hospital facilities. The new workflow solution is being implemented as a part of an overall modernization of the hospital including a new hospital building named RV7.

"We are looking forward to the new system enabling us to eliminate indirect patient work from nursing staff by improving communication and sharing information within and between the units," says Hanna Parikka, an administrator of the system and also a nurse herself. "The system will provide us with better tools for data-driven decision making across various levels of the organization," she explains.

Short lead-time from decision to implementation

Päijät-Häme Central Hospital in Lahti has for long collaborated with Systematic and conducted a thorough feasibility study and a proof-of-concept prior to the tendering. The preparatory work carried out in the previous phases and the close relationship enabled a relatively short lead-time from deciding on the product to the actual implementation. The hospital expects the first roll-out to be in two stages, with a full running solution by the end of 2022.

"Close collaboration with Systematic and an agile delivery model are key drivers for a successful deployment and achieving desired benefits," says Jari Siitonen, an ICT Product Manager and Project Owner at Päijät-Sote.

And Timo A. Rantanen, who is running healthcare business development at Systematic in Finland is excited about the project.

“We’ve been working closely with Päijät-Sote for the past few years, so we are very excited about this new project. I especially look forward to the fast implementation and providing a better situational awareness and smoother workflows for hospital staff. Ultimately, the system will benefit the patients by increasing safety and reducing waiting times, says Timo A. Rantanen.

Key player on the Finnish healthcare market

Four other hospitals in Finland are already benefitting from Systematic’s digital solutions. Since 2016, Mikkeli Central Hospital has been using Systematic’s Columna Flow Task Management solution to manage their portering and service logistics and the same solution has been piloted at Tampere University Hospital during 2021-2022.

Since 2013, Vaasa Central Hospital has been running Columna Flow Clinical Logistics as their patient flow management solution, Lapland Central Hospital has been running the same solution since 2016, and Hämeenlinna Central Hospital has been using Columna Ward Overview solution since 2020. With Päijät-Häme Central Hospital joining, Systematic is starting to make its mark on the digitalization of the Finnish healthcare market.