4 Ways Hospitals Can Alleviate the Stress of the Pandemic
Medical professionals have always had a hard lot in life, because the lives of their patients are often in their hands. This is all the more true of the ongoing pandemic and the added risk it imposes upon medical personnel and the patients under their care. That means that hospitals are looking out for the best ways to optimize their operations in order to best protect their patients and themselves. Here’s what you need to know.
Organization
Hospitals can be hectic work environments, because there are always countless people in need of various medical services big and small, and the added safety protocols associated with COVID-19 can really gum up the works. That’s why it helps to streamline operations by creating a more organized infrastructure. Doctors are saddled not only with the responsibility to treat patients, but also with an immense amount of paperwork that actually eats up the majority of their time. A great way to start tackling this problem is using healthcare document management software to help keep all of that paperwork neatly organized and readily accessible. Likewise, there are steps you can take to reduce the overall amount of paperwork that your staff will need to fill out and keep track of.
Self Reporting
Self reporting apps are growing in popularity for a few key reasons, not least of which is the current pandemic. These apps allow patients to provide updates as to their condition in between visits, and this has a few major ramifications. First and foremost, it minimizes the amount of direct contact between doctor and patient and, therefore, the risk of contracting coronavirus by entering the facility for simple checkups that could be handled remotely. This also reduces the burden on medical professionals to produce and keep track of these documents, freeing up more of their time for the administration of medical services to patients in more direct need. Likewise, this kind of app reduces the amount of physical documentation on the premises, which in turn provides the security of easy to access, accurate records. This is all the more potent when it’s combined with a holistic attempt to consolidate information into the cloud.
Cloud Storage
Cloud technology has a lot to offer a variety of business models, and cloud storage in particular is a versatile tool that can serve medical professionals well. With all of the paperwork and other datasets that hospitals have to keep track of, it helps to have a robust, remote storage space. By taking the records off of the physical premises, you protect your patients’ records and private information from being lost due to hardware malfunctions and potential cyber attacks. Cloud storage also provides the added benefit of making your files accessible from numerous devices all while being restricted to authorized personnel only. A growing trend in healthcare environments is a dedicated tablet for accessing these records, replacing the traditional clipboard with a more convenient, more reliable alternative. Medical records stored in the cloud can also be easily shared with other medical facilities when patients move around for various procedures or switch primary care providers, thereby aiding the medical industry as a whole.
Supply Chain
Every business needs supplies of some kind, and hospitals are poised to depend on supplies that can mean the difference between wellness and health or, worse, life and death. This is all the more crucial when the pandemic has placed additional strain on hospitals’ supplies of things like disposable, medical grade face masks. There are also a few viable vaccines for limited use and the possibility of more comprehensive coronavirus vaccines around the corner. These vaccines will be in short supply and in high demand, so you’re going to need to restructure your supply chain to best meet that demand at your facility.
Medical professionals have their work cut out for them at the best of times, and the COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbates those struggles. Despite this, doctors and nurses continue to put in the work needed to curb this crisis. These tips will help your hospital or clinic keep things running smoothly by letting technology shoulder some of the workload.
