Health and care professionals around the world are increasingly being asked to do more with less, with competing demands meaning their time is more precious than ever. Many health systems are currently struggling to meet the needs of the populations they serve, which is having a negative impact on health outcomes.

Care teams can only be as good as the information they have at their disposal, though. Being able to access up-to-date information from their patients is an essential part of addressing this problem.

The paper-based systems that are still in use in many healthcare organisations are taking up too much precious time, and often only paint a partially completed picture of the information that clinicians need to treat patients safely, and to the best of their ability.

How can we ensure health and care professionals have access to information they can act on, which is complete and accurate to improve patient safety and health outcomes?

The full picture:

Making sure care teams have all the facts at hand is one of the main goals of the admissions process for patients requiring surgery.

Patients are asked to provide a range of information about their health before they’re admitted, including their medical history, any allergies they have and medications they’re taking. This helps their care team to fully understand why their patients are having a procedure and allows them to make the necessary arrangements for their care.

Digitising the admissions processes is one solution to streamline this. Through digitising the admissions process, care teams can benefit from receiving standardised information that is needed to deliver safe and efficient patient care.

Thanks to the functionality of digital platforms, health information being provided by patients is more complete than has historically been the case with more manual, paper-based systems. Patient information is automatically added to a patient’s clinical record, meaning it’s instantly available to review by their care team well ahead of the procedure.

The positive impact of digitisation:

As well as allowing health and care professionals to personalise patient care, digitisation also increases efficiency in hospitals.

Through ensuring the right information is being provided upfront, the likelihood of patients being turned away when they’re on their way into surgery means there are less wasted appointments, and more time available for clinicians to focus on a patient’s recovery instead of administration.

Southern Cross Healthcare, which plays a vital role in New Zealand’s private elective surgery sector, has successfully piloted a digital solution that delivers these benefits, partnering with Orion Health to pilot an eAdmissions solution, using Orion Health’s Virtuoso Digital Front Door technology.

Digitising the pre-admissions process has proven to be of significant value for Southern Cross Healthcare, including increasing patient safety by improving the accuracy of information provided and making it accessible in the Clinical Workstation.

Want to learn more?

You can read more about Southern Cross Healthcare and Orion Health’s partnership and the Digital Front Door in the Southern Cross Healthcare eAdmissions pilot case study.

Read the Case Study