New solution ensures openness of patient data across healthcare system
As politicians and professionals call for better sharing of data across the healthcare system, Herning Municipality and Gødstrup Hospital have been testing a solution that is now set for implementation by a number of municipalities.
Patients all too often get ‘lost’ between region, municipality and GP because the sectors have trouble sharing information with one another. The Danish Healthcare Structure Commission and the Danish Nurses’ Organization point out that better sharing of data and digitalisation are the way forward, and the Central Denmark Region has been testing a promising solution to the problem at municipal and regional level.
The Central Denmark Region and Herning Municipality have been running a pilot project for almost 10 months using the online portal Columna Axon, and the positive results mean that the region will be keeping the solution in Herning and rolling it out to more municipalities in central Denmark.
The pilot project between Herning Municipality and Gødstrup Hospital trialled Columna Axon as a platform, initially providing healthcare professionals in municipalities with access to regional health records in real time. This means that municipal nurses can access up-to-date information about patients without being dependent on the patients’ own accounts and time-consuming phone calls to the region.
The use of Axon has led to a reduction of up to 50 % in phone calls from Herning Municipality to Gødstrup Hospital, and the access to data has brought significant improvements in day-to-day work in the municipality.
“The time a municipal nurse spends finding answers using Axon is nothing compared to the time she would spend on the phone. We are now more self-reliant and can react quicker. This is a source of professional pride for employees, who feel that they can do a better job for their patients. This is the best digital aid we have had for nursing for a long time” says Gitte Nørgaard, Head of Nursing and Home Care at Herning Municipality.
New pilot project on the way in Aarhus
Columna Axon is now set to be implemented at more municipalities in central Denmark, and the region estimates the potential combined saving in working hours to be between 9,000 and 18,000. This time can instead be devoted to patient care.
The next step therefore is to also reverse the flow and give regional healthcare professionals access to municipal data. The Central Denmark Region and Aarhus Municipality have already finalised a pilot project, to be launched in January 2025. After that, GP systems will be incorporated into the solution, providing access to relevant information for anyone treating a citizen, whether it be their own doctor, a district nurse or nurses in hospital.
According to Anders Kühnau, Chairman of the Regional Council for the Central Denmark Region, the solution is a crucial factor for improving safety and peace of mind for patients throughout the healthcare system.
“It is vitally important that we can share data across sectors, as it enables us to deliver more coherent patient flows. Citizens will no longer find that things slip through the cracks, with information given to the doctor not being passed to the hospital, or vice versa, when being discharged from hospital,” he says.
A flexible and inexpensive solution
One of the advantages of Columna Axon is that it is based on an approach in which relevant data is simply displayed rather than being shared or circulated between systems. This creates a more flexible and cheaper solution than many of the national IT projects. These are complex and typically take years to develop and implement, whereas Columna Axon is ready to be put into operation now. Following evaluation, employees describe Columna Axon as intuitive to use, which has ensured problem-free implementation with minimal need for training.
Mayor of Herning Municipality, Dorte West, highlights very tangible benefits:
“We have a strong focus on continuity of care for our patients, and this solution will make it faster for our employees to continue the treatment that has started at the hospitals. It will also help prevent readmissions,” she says.
Reducing phone calls by up to 55 %
If Columna Axon were widely implemented, the Central Denmark Region deems it has potential for major time savings and improved patient safety. The region has estimated that up to 55 % of current phone calls between municipalities and hospitals could be unnecessary with this solution.
Columna Axon is the brainchild of software company Systematic, which has also developed the electronic health record (EHR) system, used by hospitals in the three regions of western Denmark.
For Systematic’s CEO, Nikolaj Bramsen, Columna Axon is the model that could link together the entire Danish health sector – with no need for any large-scale public IT development projects.
“The Danish health sector has a number of good IT solutions. With Axon we can support provision of a complete view of a citizen’s health status and ensure that no information gets missed. This will enhance the level of quality and provide safer patient flows, with the individual citizen no longer being responsible for passing on information, and healthcare professionals having rapid access to the information they need for their work. As a result, citizens will not simply be passed along the system, because the sectors are working together better to deal with their overall treatment,” he says.
Find out more about Columna Axon here.
Read the Central Denmark Region submission to the Danish Healthcare Structure Commission re. Columna Axon.
