Columna Flow Task Management: Empowering porters to coordinate their own tasks

Manual distribution of tasks called for changes in workflow

In the heart of Copenhagen, Denmark’s capital city lies Rigshospitalet – one of Scandinavia’s largest hospitals with 1244 beds. Despite its size and national importance, Rigshospitalet (Danish for “the National Hospital”) used manual procedures to deal with patient transport and other logistics tasks right up until summer 2018. At all times of day and night, the different jobs were allocated and explained via telephone calls between medical staff and porters.

That’s how it was done until Columna Flow was implemented to solve the identified challenges at the hospital. The Columna Flow Task Management solution was first implemented at the Radiology Clinic, through which a very large number of patients pass every day. The routine work at this clinic may therefore seem hectic. According to the head porter at the Radiology Clinic, Gert Andersen, the digital solution was very appreciated. The switch from constantly ringing phones to more muted text messages made the porters’ working day clearer and easier.

Clear documentation and improved workflow

According to the deputy head of the Rigshospitalet Service Centre, Lars Buhl, the porters are still getting used to the task management system, which has changed their working day in several ways. But despite the size and complexity of Rigshospitalet, working with the system has got off to a good start.

His views are supported by Chief Porter, Kristoffer Hofman, who – in addition to the documentation benefits – has also noticed improvements in the working environment for the Rigshospitalet porters.

This also means the porters avoid unnecessary journeys back and forth to the duty room because the next task always starts from where the previous one ended.

Each porter now has thier own coordinator

Implementation of the Columna Flow Task Management system also means the close collaboration between porters and nurses has changed. Instead of just passively being tasked with a particular assignment, the porters can now be more proactive in the overall coordination work, because they have a full overview of the tasks that need doing and can select the assignments that are right for them, thus saving both time and walking.

Task visibilty provides a bright future at Rigshospitalet 

Rigshospitalet and Systematic are in close, ongoing dialogue ensuring the system to be improved and adapted to the individual situations and challenges. Both Systematic and Rigshospitalet have come a long way in this process and are optimistic about the future..