There is no doubt that any technology that is introduced into a hospital environment will benefit both staff and patients. This is whether it relates to software and patient entertainment systems, the sharing of clinical information, or a medical device. In the case of software systems, it is about unifying information to have it easily accessible to those treating patients, yet still holding it confidentially.
Instant access is where technology excels when it comes to having information in one place that is accessible to all those who need to know it at any time of day or night, providing they have the password that confirms their right to access. It stands true for all the areas a hospital deals in, from record keeping of the patients to billing them correctly for the treatments they have availed. While an EMR may help provide a patient with the proper treatment, healthcare coding audits can aid in making the proper bill. There are certainly different software to deal with each area of a healthcare system, so as to ensure that the patients receive utmost care from the doctors and nurses while the mechanical works are left on the machines.
On that note, let us examine some forms of technology that aid patient care by informing them, making them more comfortable, or keeping them alive and healthy.
EHR (Electronic Health Record) as a Solution
An EHR (Electronic Health Record) is a collection of patient and population data concerning health that has been systematized and centralized into a digital format. The data included will range from medical history to demographics to information on immunizations and allergies. Patient test results will be included in their numerical form alongside images such as those generated from scans and X-rays.
The advantage of such a system is that the information will be in one central computerized location that can be accessed from anywhere within a hospital. There will be no time delay in waiting for paper records to be delivered to a doctor to view results, so urgent conditions can be treated faster. This saves lives when every minute can be crucial when there can be a timeframe to deliver the correct treatment. It is important that patients are able to access the care that they require whenever they need it, this is where urgent care Windsor CO clinics and others across the country, are needed for people to get the necessary help without the worry of waiting in a doctors office. Combining this care with EHR is a positive step toward giving patients a better care experience.
EHR cuts down on mistakes and means an early diagnosis of conditions. In some situations, the treatment given might have been a compromise and not wholly adequate until all the facts are known, so early access to patient information can mean the difference between life, a slow recovery, or premature death.
Care Experience Platforms
Having a Care Experience Platform (CXP) will generate an improved customer experience. This is because it is flexible in the amount of support it can provide and will be useful to a variety of users across a medical institution and beyond. Different care settings can benefit from using the same system that is central to all the information and instantly accessible with a password that will protect confidentiality. A similar approach could be used by hospitals to store and manage patients’ records with specialized Revenue Cycle Management Solutions. As an added benefit, an RCM can help hospitals manage patient financial information more efficiently. Also, requests and claims related to health insurance could be handled by this system.
Medical data that is a personalized will, of course, always be on a need-to-know basis. Medical information held on somebody is, after all, considered sensitive information that could do more harm than good in the wrong hands. It is about protecting privacy. At the same time, the doctors will need to know all that there is to know about a patient to come to the right conclusions about a diagnosis. This is the safest approach. Then the sooner doctors know everything about a patient, the sooner they can come up with a treatment plan. Some situations are more urgent than others but information held in the right place does not discriminate over urgency and is there to benefit everyone in any state of emergency. Medical staff will use it to make informed decisions.
Patient Entertainment Systems
Keeping children occupied in a clinic is possible through technology. A big screen can play a movie to keep them amused or an information film to inform them of something educational. It is whatever is appropriate in whatever environment in terms of what is useful and helpful in managing a particular, perhaps child-specific, medical situation.
Medical Devices
Technology should be mentioned not only when referring to healthcare software systems (see this website for more information) but also when it comes to medical devices that have made a difference in millions of people’s lives. Undoubtedly, the medical device that has saved the most lives is the ventilator. A mechanical ventilating system is used where all else has failed and the ventilator will be used to keep the patient alive. We have seen this with the Covid-19 pandemic and at one time feared there might be a shortage of ventilator machines as infection rates and hospital admissions rapidly increased on an upward trajectory.
In summary, technology improves patient care through the way it allows information to be handled more efficiently as much as it is responsible for the machines that directly keep patients alive. It is a mutual benefit that we have technology as medical assistants. 24/7, doctors can have instant access to the information they need to know about a patient and also have the tools to keep patients alive when other methods may not have worked.