By Derek Jones, VP Enterprise Strategy, Americas, Deputy
Twitter:Â @deputyapp
For the longest time, healthcare facilities had been slow to adopt digital technology. A significant factor in this delay was anxiety regarding costs and privacy risks. This has, however, changed as there is currently a global digital transformation taking over the sector. From updated patient portals to analytics for better care, there are many ways healthcare delivery is evolving.
The COVID-19 pandemic further emphasized the need for healthcare facilities to embrace digital workforce management as their operational model. Your healthcare staff spends their days working in high-stress environments and deserve all the support they can get. Digital workforce management also benefits your patients’ experience by offering them more efficient care from happier workers.
In this article, we discuss how this management system can improve the hospital patient experience.
Challenges Workers and Patients Face in Healthcare Facilities
Delayed Technology Adoption
The American healthcare system has been reluctant to incorporate technological developments, instead preferring the tried and tested approach. For some medical management systems, the transition to electronic records has been gradual and unpleasant.
As a result of this delay, many people have been unable to access their medical records. This issue becomes life-threatening to your patients when they are being treated elsewhere, and the staff at that location want instant access to their health information. This technological gap is putting additional strain on your healthcare employees, who must keep track of patient details independently.
Inadequate Interaction Times
The increasing responsibilities of healthcare professionals have led to them spending less and less time seeing patients. Both healthcare personnel and patients agree on this. Patients frequently remark that they don’t have enough time with doctors during an appointment.
Medical professionals believe that they spend the majority of their time documenting care notes rather than providing treatment. Due to a shortage of time, both parties are having problems, and the conventional patient-doctor relationship is breaking down.
Hospital Manpower Shortages
There was a scarcity of employees in the healthcare industry, particularly doctors, even before the COVID-19 pandemic. For years, workforce shortages have resulted in rising workloads and longer hours. While extended shifts might occasionally result in overtime compensation for professionals such as nurses, the extra wages are not enough to make up for the other issues that these shortages create.
Burnout is a serious issue for healthcare professionals, and these shortages can result in general workplace unhappiness and increased employee turnover. This strain affects your patients’ hospital experience because eventually, they receive lower-quality care.
Digital Workforce Management for Enhanced Patient Experience
As the workplace becomes more digital, you and your employees will be able to interact and collaborate in a variety of innovative and productive ways. Digital workforce management can improve patient care in the ways discussed below.
Minimize Avoidable errors
Healthcare workers cannot afford to make mistakes seeing as they deal with human life. Unfortunately, 14 adverse events occur for every 100 hospitalizations, resulting in almost 43 million preventable patient injuries each year. So, what can you do to protect patients and reduce the number of events that damage your company’s reputation?
To decrease the risk, your staff must have quick and easy access to the proper tools and resources. You can provide easy access to vital information when it matters most by implementing digital technology in your workforce management.
Lay the Groundwork for Better Collaboration
Collaboration has become essential with the specialization of medical practice. Multidisciplinary care enhances patient outcomes while lowering healthcare costs, making them a win-win for healthcare organizations.
While the advantages of cooperation are apparent, establishing successful group-working habits may be difficult. Healthcare employees may not know who to turn to regarding their patients’ illnesses or concerns since there is so much specialized expertise.
Use digital technologies to improve collaboration and prevent the development of a silo mindset. Easy-to-find information facilitates cooperation, while organization charts and profile badges aid users in identifying colleagues with the specific knowledge they need.
Prevent and Resolve Scheduling Conflicts
Workplace scheduling might be challenging at times. Often, your healthcare workers may take a longer time than they expect to complete a task. As a result, there is a delay in starting the next thing, and impromptu backup may not be available. A call or appointment may be booked on an incorrect day or perhaps forgotten entirely. The designated medical professional may become unwell or otherwise unavailable.
This is why you must plan for the job as well as any other variables that may have an impact on it. Digital tools like timeclock apps can help your workforce organize their schedule more efficiently.
Evaluate Performance of Healthcare Workers
Digital workforce management can monitor the performance of your healthcare employees. They can provide information relating to patient care like their arrival time, time spent attending to each patient, and departure time.
This information can assist you in better understanding the productivity and the competency, and devotion of your employees. It allows you to relax if everything is going smoothly or to act ahead of time to avoid any problems with scheduled patient care.
Conclusion
You must get on board with the global sweep of digital transformation if you intend to provide up-to-date care. Patients deserve the best treatment they can get, and an excellent way to ensure this is by optimizing your employee capabilities with digital workforce management.