Nurse pushes patient in wheelchair

    Improving hospital workflows

     

    A new solution makes it easier for hospitals to coordinate and plan the running of the hospital. Hospitals will be able to deploy this system rapidly, and the investment involved will be considerably reduced. 

     

    Challenge

    • Lack of efficiency in planning and coordination of hospital tasks
    • Poor communication
    • Lack of shared information about status of tasks and staff location 
     

    Solution

    • Flexible and intuitive solution accessed through smartphones
    • The system suggests the most effective sequence of tasks  
    • Showing nearest colleagues location
     

    Benefits

    • Optimised workflow
    • Increased awareness of colleague and task status
    • Greater efficiency with reduced waiting time

    Easier to coordinate and plan the running of hospitals

    In collaboration with Aalborg Hospital, the New University Hospital in Aarhus and Aarhus University we are involved in the development of a solution that will make it easier to coordinate and plan the running of hospitals.

    Making use of the existing infrastructure in the hospital, the system will gather information about where orderlies and cleaners, in addition to doctors, nurses and patients, are located. The system will also be able to automatically track movable objects such as beds, wheelchairs and defibrillators.

    At the same time, the system will be able to propose the most effective sequence of tasks. For example, a quick glance at his smartphone could guide an orderly down to a task on the seventh floor as soon as he has completed a second task on the eighth floor.

    “The concept of using IT to support our service staff in their day-to-day work is new to us. We have high expectations that – for example – communication between clinical and service staff will get better, assignments will be allocated more efficiently, and the working environment will improve,
    so that everyone involved has a better overview as well as more time and energy to devote to the patients, ” says Karin Hedegaard, IT Project Manager, Aalborg Universitetshopital.

    Savings in excess of 66 EURm a year - in Denmark alone

    Because the system proposes to use existing infrastructure, hospitals will be able to deploy this system rapidly, and the investment involved will be considerably reduced.

    In cooperation with a major Danish hospital, Systematic conducted an analysis of some of the hospital’s more straightforward workflows. This showed that the potential efficiency improvements are so big that the costs a hospital would incur for this solution and its implementation will already be covered after the first year. Our analysis and prototype project show that the Danish hospital system overall would be able to save in excess of 500 million kroner (~66 EURm) a year.