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DIGITISATION OF ICUS AND REDUCTION IN MEDICALERRORS
HEALTHCARE IT
Digitisation of ICUs and reduction in medical errors
Dr Dhruv Joshi,Co-founder & CEO,Cloudphysician Healthcare highlights that new-age technology has provided a silver lining.Virtual hospitals,which combine technology with healthcare,are now allowing intensivists to deliver care to people in far-flung areas of the country
The Indian healthcare system is beset by a slew of issues, including inadequate infrastructure, an overburdening patient load, poor service quality, and insufficient training for hospital workers.
One of the most obvious problems is that the vast majority of the population does not have access to high-quality critical care. India has less than 3 ICU beds per 1 lakh people, compared to Germany, which has close to 30 ICU beds per 1 lakh people. As a result, nine out of ten critically ill patients in India are unable to obtain the high-quality care they need, resulting in unnecessary mortality and morbidity.
The majority of hospitals, with the exception of a few, are unable to handle the demands of critical care. Inequitable critical care delivery has long been a problem in India and elsewhere. We need to take a completely new approach to handle this problem. Traditional critical care delivery systems have proven to be either inadequate or prohibitively costly. We will need a 21st-century answer for this, one that goes beyond traditional models and even traditional telemedicine as we know it.
While the situation may appear to be hopeless, new-age technology has provided a silver lining. Virtual hospitals, which combine technology with healthcare, are now allowing intensivists to deliver care to people in far-flung areas of the country. We may virtualize the care provided to critically sick patients by enabling any bed in any location to be converted into an ICU bed by leveraging technology. When an ICU bed is fully networked and digitised, the patient in that bed, as well as the doctors and nurses caring for him or her, can benefit from a virtual backbone of super specialists, aided by intelligent technology that can support them no matter where they are.
Hospitals located anywhere can move to a digitised set up and the ICU in the hospital can then be connected to a central unit with tele-intensivists, nurses, and other healthcare experts who can supervise patients 24 hours a day, seven days a week and provide support as needed. This is a ground-breaking technology that is bringing critical care to patients who previously did not have it. This form of digital ICU care delivery using virtual hospitals enables timely, standardised care for critically ill patients, as well as expanded access to intensive care and efficient use of limited resources to serve a larger percentage of the population. Simultaneously, this patient data, which is collected and transmitted over large distances, is safe and secure. This complies with privacy standards and safeguards the patients' interests.
This isn't a far-fetched possibility. In many countries of the world, including India, progressive healthcare leaders are putting this into reality and implementing it. Using virtual solutions like this, hospitals in remote regions such as Motihari, Nadiad, and Cachar are now giving care equivalent to huge facilities in metro centres at a fraction of the cost. It is vital that the rest of the healthcare community aligns with the future and empowers both patients and caregivers to receive and deliver services that will make critical care equitable for all.
While providing quality healthcare to patients everywhere and anytime is one concern, reducing pressure on the personnel in the existing infrastructure is another area where digitisation helps. As the adage goes - you cannot improve what you cannot measure. Digitisation and virtualisation of care in addition to enabling access also allows care to become transparent, accountable and measurable. This allows for the reduction of errors and better care provision. Digitising the workflow, and reducing paperwork and human effort, is a major step in this direction. Human error in lab reports is another casualty of the overburdened medical infrastructure. Digitisation or automation of report generation reduces errors and consequences due to the same. This will ensure no data loss and decrease in data entry mistakes.
Storing patient history in virtual and automated storage systems aids personnel in retrieving it easily when required. A few clicks can provide access to the data, from any location. Digital storage is equally helpful for storing assigned protocols and any other procedures. Nursing staff or less qualified healthcare personnel can access the same, in the absence of other expertise.
Digitisation of storage, procedures and other relevant, helps in reducing pressure on both personnel and infrastructure. This is a sure shot in the arm for critical healthcare.
