Ever since the healthcare industry has escalated its operations on a full-fledged business model, the rules of the game have entirely changed. The transition of healthcare facilities into enterprises have sure magnified profitability, returns and what not; it has also fueled the competition in the industry.

Patients have now become clients – with their specific needs, demands, and expectations and the healthcare enterprises that succeed in delivering to their demands before anyone else, while also providing a seamless experience, is sure to outclass the rest of the players in the industry.

Factoring care as a service, patient as a client, and health care as a business, it has become all the most necessary for hospitals, private practices and healthcare facilities to enhance their patient experience. Technology has become a key enabler for the healthcare industry to streamline its processes and workflows and deliver real value to patient care by maximizing quality, performance, and efficiency.

Key Areas Where Technology Can Improve Patient Experience

An average patient’s treatment process comprises a series of tasks, from admission through treatment, follow-ups and post-operative care. The whole care process has a lot of room for optimization through digital technologies. The various facets of the process that can be automated and streamlined include:

- Patient Admission Procedure

Patient admission is often the most time-consuming process, requiring a lot of back-end hustle. By automating the process through digital technology, patients or attendants can efficiently fill up forms prior to the appointment. This will save a lot of time and efforts for patients, physician and administration alike – while also making it all the more convenient to manage emergencies. 

- ER Workflows

ER workflows entail a lot of overwhelming and critical processes that need to be completed just in time. From admission to registration, check-in, and treatment, time is of the essence. Automating ER prerequisite processes will translate into an immediate response to emergencies, preventing the risk (and consequences) of making an ER patient wait for too long.

- Internal or External Transfers

Through shared healthcare information and management systems, different silos within a healthcare facility can conveniently collaborate with each other. Likewise, should there be a need to move a patient to some other facility, a robust communication or collaboration system will not only make the process smooth and fast but will also facilitate the sharing of information between hospitals or healthcare facilities.

- Medication Processes

The prime purpose of automation is to eliminate errors, and workflow technology can effectively be used to rule out the risk of medication errors. On a broader spectrum, the reduction of errors will translate into better compliance and credibility.

- Prescription and Supply

Drug inventory management is a crucial function of healthcare management. Automating drug inventory workflows through technology will help ensure a seamless supply and provision of drugs and medication while keeping tabs on their quality and expiry.

- Patient management

The availability of a bed, care staff, provision of treatment, and drug supply are some core processes constituting the patient flow. A minor delay in any of these processes may lead to wrong placement, mistaken referral, inaccurate diagnosis, delayed bed availability or obstructions in communication. These lingering risks can effectively be eliminated by automating your patient flow through workflow technology.

The Technology-Driven ‘Mobility’ of Healthcare

While browsing, shopping, ordering food, cab or pretty much anything else is a common practice for everyone with a mobile phone and internet, the healthcare industry too has taken to becoming accessible for its customers on a mere finger tap. Smartphones, coupled with 4G technology has fueled the mobility of healthcare, to the extent of virtual provision of services through smart and automated workflow tools, at different terminals in the patient care process.

Smartphones are now effectively serving as a great tool for the patient to carry out a lot of processes on the go, without having to drop by a healthcare facility for a task as mundane as making an appointment. The manifestation of mobile and smartphone technology in healthcare workflows is benefitting the patient in the following ways:

- Digital forms and information recording

Good riddance to old-school paperwork – digital forms, such as patient consent forms, or any form for that matter, has made it a whole lot fast and convenient for patients to get done with admission or pre-operative documentation, before arriving for the treatment, or even on the go. Once filled and submitted, the information provided by the patient is directly entered into the patient’s records.

- Push notifications

Mobile phone reminders, through SMS or push notifications, are a great tool to remind patients of their appointment, follow-up, and even notify them about their medication schedule. A confirmation link embedded in these texts, email or notifications also makes it convenient for the physician to reconfirm appointments, and minimize no-shows.

- Telemed app

There are a lot of healthcare applications available free of charge for mobile phone users, helping them keep their nutrition, workout, and other health-related tasks in check. Healthcare facilities too, are making use of this great tool – all for the benefit of their clients, and for their own convenience.

- Personalized healthcare management tools

Healthcare management tools that can be scaled and customized to specific factors such as age, gender, diagnosis, and treatment plan, can significantly enhance the quality and continuity of care. These custom tools can automatically generate alerts, reminders, subscriptions, appointments, and prescription refills, thereby making it convenient for the patient to take care of their own care.

Infowise:

At Infowise, we are serving as a technology partner for the healthcare industry in their digital transformation endeavors with our scalable, smart and futuristic tools, software and applications. Our flagship product Infowise UltimateForms Premium Suite contains more than 15 standalone SharePoint applications developed to give you the power to innovate, automate and scale up your processes. Our products have been designed for optimum interoperability and seamless integration within SharePoint. They constitute the structural foundation for digitalization, in larger healthcare systems, university research centers, regional hospitals, and physician practices.