2nd Digital Hospital of the Future Conference – Digital Health takes focus
Digital health is a topic that has gathered speed over the past few years. The conference themed Improving Patient Care Delivery and Monitoring with Digital Technology Innovations and Transformation took place in Sydney on 7-8 December 2016 and Digital Democracy was the social media partner for the event
While technology was certainly a great ‘enabler’ in hospital transformation it was the patient centricity focus that garnered my attention and in this post I will highlight two speakers that focused on this area.
Dr Joanne Curry, Solutions Specialist Care Logistics, Computer Sciences Corporation
Delivered a particularly compelling presentation on Mastering Healthcare Digital Innovation with Patient Journey Modelling.
Dr Curry reinforced the need to “Understand operational needs from a patient-centric perspective along with related clinical and administrative information flow requirements”. By focusing on the patient it:
- Breaks down silos of care
- Patient is the only one who sees the end-to-end journey
- Cross-discipline stakeholders have different cultures and values
- Improve cross-discipline and inter-departmental communication
- Funding shifts encouraging rewards for long term care as opposed to episodic care, for certain conditions
- Helps to prioritise action plans
Stella Ward, Executive Director, Allied Health – West Coast and Canterbury DHB (NZ)
Reminded delegates that ..’the hospital – altogether the most complex human organization ever devised …” - Peter Drucker
She took delegates through the new hospitals in New Zealand. Key elements of any new hospitals needed to be Integrated systems including wi-fi,real time clinical information, electronic medical records, E-meds, referrals, pathways, real time location systems (tracking) ,communication systems, patient information, meal ordering , security, videoconferencing and mobile devices.
Central to the development of the hospitals was the patient-centred focus which informed design decisions every step of the way.
The Hospital – Patient’s Emotions
One of the most compelling content elements of the conference was a video produced by the Cleveland Clinic that brought home how hospitals house the most intense emotions. It is certainly worth viewing