STRIVING TOWARDS A SMART HOSPITAL

Tuesday - 11/12/2018 11:43

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There is no longer a long and crowded line waiting during health examination, the hospitals can coordinate better in examination and treatment ...;These are the first steps towards a smart hospital that many medical institutions are taking.

Make it convenient for patients

Recently, Nhon Trach Medical Center has implemented an automatic numbering system to give patients more convenience in getting their medical examination and treatment. Mrs. Le Thi Hai, resides at Long Tan commune, Nhon Trach district, said that she regularly visits Nhon Trach Health Center whenever she is tired or having a fever. In the past, she and many other patients had to go early to register and get their number. "There were many times, I had to wait for very long, I had to take a day off from work for every examination. Now, when I visit the center, I just need to walk to the automatic numbering machine and get my number, and I can get my examination done in about 30 minutes, much faster than before, "she said.

Mr. Phan Van Ro, 70 years old, lives in Phu Hoi commune, Nhon Trach district, has done examination and received treatment in almost all of the departments of Nhon Trach Medical Center due to his many diseases such as diabetes, spinal degeneration ... He goes to the Center almost every month for his check-up and medication. Mr. Ro told us that automatic numbering creates convenience and fairness among patients. The person who gets there earlier shall get his number earlier, and the one that comes later shall get his number later, no more chaos and disturb. Previously, when handing in the medical book to get his numbers, the number was tampered with resulting in that Mr. Ro despite going early had to get his number later and thus had his examination done much later than it should have been.

In addition, Nhon Trach Medical Center also records medical records of the patients on the computer system. When patients register for medical examination and treatment, the patient's information shall be stored on the computer. As a result, for the later examinations, both patients and doctors can now know the examination and medical history, the medicines and technical services that patients have used... Dr. Ho Thanh Phong, director of Nhon Trach Medical Center said that the Hospital uses medical management software of FPT Corporation. All the information of the patients that visit the Center shall be kept for life.

After performing the CT and MRI scan on the patient a few minutes, the doctors of Dong Nai General Hospital can see the detailed results and provide diagnosis early for patients.

Not only Nhon Trach Medical Center, many other medical centers in the province have applied Information Technology in medical examination and treatment. At the IT Department of Dong Nai General Hospital, we could get access to our own medical records. All of the information acquired from our examination, treatment, prescriptions, doctors are all very specific.

Mr. Nguyen Van Phi, Head of IT Department, Dong Nai General Hospital said that as soon as the patients register for examination via automatic numbering system, the system assign them to go to their respective specialized departments. This alleviates the long wait that the patients have to undergo; meanwhile the doctor, based on the specific condition of each patient, shall schedule an appointment that is printed right on the prescription. This reduces the number of patients on peak hours and at the same time distributes them evenly throughout the day. The software will record the specific time at which the patients arrive at the stages of examination; should any stage be slow or lacking in staff, the Board Of Directors shall use the software system to allocate staff in a timely manner. As a result, the waiting time of the patients would be reduced.

Reduce pressure on the hospital

The application of Information Technology using internal network connection has made the operation of the hospital more professional. An employee of Special Treatment Department said that, in the past, the patients had to buy a book, fill in the information, pay and then wait for the staff to record aforementioned information into in the reception book and handover the book to the examination room.

After completing the examination, the doctor wrote the results and the prescription in his book and then someone must transfer said book to the pharmacy or the reception desk and then returned it to the patient ... it was all very time-consuming. In recent years, through the patient information sheet, the medical staff only need to "click his mouse" to transfer these information to the examination room. Here, the diagnosis, prescription, re-examination date and doctor's instructions are entered into the machine and it takes just another click of the mouse for said information to reach the pharmacy to be printed for the patients. This process halves the waiting time compared to before so despite the large number of patients, the medical staff is still under no pressure. The patient do not have to wait too long either.

Mr. Nguyen Van Phi said staff members of the departments shall continuously input patient data into the hospital's software. The IT system will record all activities of the patients from when they enter the hospital till the last day of their lives. Patient information shall be strictly confidential and known only doctors and respective patients. At Dong Nai General Hospital, if the patient has an X-ray, CT, MRI scan..., then within just a few minutes, the doctors of any department of the hospital could see the patient's film. This is especially useful in severe emergency cases because the earlier the doctors see the scan, the earlier they could give the diagnosis. "Previously, before IT was not implemented, the doctors only know about their department’s patients. If the patients took an X-ray, MRI scan, then doctors must wait for the Diagnostic Imaging Department print the scan. Then, the nurses would have walk there to retrieve the scans for the doctor to read," Mr. Nguyen Van Phi told us.

However, in the past three years, the doctors of the Hospital will be given accounts to get access to the patient’s information. In the future, the hospital will connect patients’ data to telephones so the doctors can acquire the information anywhere. If the Ministry of Health allows, the results of CT, MRI, X-ray... shall be digitized instead of printed like today. This shall greatly reduce the costs of medical examination and treatment and protect the environment. "Each film printed out costs from 30,000 to 50,000 VND and it can take about 50 for these films to decompose. The Ministry of Health is also in charge of digitizing and gradually replacing traditional films with digital archives. The Ministry is also doing tests in 10 central hospitals," Mr. Phi said.

Criteria of IT application in hospitals

Recently, the Ministry of Health has issued Circular No. 54/2017 / TT-BYT on the criteria for the application of information technology in hospitals in order to introduce new technologies into medical examination and treatment, management, aiming towards an intelligent hospital.

This set of criteria is divided into 7 levels. Any hospital reaches the level of 6 - 7 (equipped with hospital information system - HIS, laboratory information system - LIS, picture archiving and communication system - PACS, electronic medical records - EMRs, with smart access points that allow patients to look up information, application of artificial intelligence, etc.) is considered smart hospital.