Improving efficiency is essential in any industry - but there are few industries more important than healthcare. Firstly, as well as being a vital service to all, it's people that are at the heart of our healthcare system. And secondly, when you look at the financial impact, public monies are spent in this space too. So, it's important to ensure we're making the most of it.
People working in healthcare did not get into this industry to work with technology - we always have to be mindful of that. They are, first and foremost, interested in caring for the patient or citizen who needs their support. So ultimately, our goal as a technology provider is to offer each worker has more time available to do quantifiable, life saving work - rather than any mundane admin. It's important to make sure the working life of medical staff is as easy as possible, given the circumstances. That's where our role as a technology provider comes in. Historically, implementing technology and digital systems in the NHS have encountered obstacles, including issues with interoperability, data sharing, and cybersecurity.
The system and processes work differently in healthcare. For example: say you're working on a ward and you need to get a message across to a colleague - are you going to Teams message them? Probably not. So where can technology be useful?
Using Technology within a Healthcare Environment:
Let's consider how the technology applies to health workers, and how manual processes take up their time. The integration of health and social care services has been a challenge within the NHS for some time. Co-ordination and collaboration between healthcare providers, local authorities, and social care agencies can be complex, impacting the continuity and quality of care.
At Akari, we have gained valuable insights from our ongoing work with several large NHS trusts. A real example that we've come up against is bed management. Imagine this -you've just started your shift and it's a busy ward, A&E is packed, and you are asked to intake patients. What if you could pick up an app to see across the board how many beds are free? And, let's say, even if you have six beds - you're in A&E, and you've got a surplus of people waiting downstairs, you're going to have to prioritise. Who needs these six beds the most? By offering nurses a centralised system to communicate, monitor and analyse - this process is streamlined and more effective, which is crucial in a life-or-death situation, and takes the pressure off the individual worker.
Akari can provide hospitals with innovative solutions, such as screens or apps, that replace non-auditable whiteboards or hardcopies of patient or worker information. This not only frees up time, but ask yourself: Is it worth the risk of losing data and information in the chaos of an A&E unit, by not using a traceable, communal system?
Then there's time management. When attending my first aid training last week, I was surprised by the speed at which the body shuts down when a person loses blood or stops breathing. You have seconds to act and provide emergency care. The reality of storing medical data in an application that offers a constant line of communication - of course along with the life-saving work of nurses and doctors - could help a patient survive at a time when every second counts.
And in non-emergency medical care, how does each patient maintain the wrap-around care required when different staff members are on different shifts? Is everybody talking to each other? How does that communication get relayed back? Many organisations that move and change rapidly, but healthcare is going 100 miles an hour.
"44.8% of NHS respondents reported they had felt unwell as a result of work-related stress in the last year."
-NHS Staff Survey 2022
How can we improve the workers experience?
This is just as vital as patient care. Since Covid 19, we have seen Healthcare workers go through one of the most time and resource stretched periods in the NHS’s history.
My friend is a doctor, and she regularly feels overwhelmed at work. I find that while she focuses so much on her patient's well-being, she barely has the time to look after her own. It doesn't surprise me that 44.8% of NHS respondents reported they had felt unwell as a result of work-related stress during 2022. The NHS have faced staffing shortages for years, including doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals. Insufficient staffing levels have led to increased workloads, burnout among healthcare workers, and potential compromises in patient care.
Today, having the capability to access data through The Microsoft Power Platform - using systems such as Power BI provides employees with easy access to data from multiple sources, allowing nurses to act quicker and achieve more within their working hours. To me, this is a no-brainer, if we can relieve pressure off healthcare workers, everybody wins: workers, patients, tax-payers - you name it.
How can we help?
At Akari, we are passionate about people, and have an extensive background in successfully supporting healthcare organisations. We are often chosen due to our values, ethos and compassion for healthcare workers.
Embracing digital innovations fully has been a gradual process in healthcare. When it comes to cyber security, Akari prioritise data security and compliance with healthcare privacy regulations. Our use of Power Platform employs encryption and other security measures to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of patient information when shared among healthcare workers, enhancing data privacy and protecting patient confidentiality. So today, if we can do a good job in streamlining operational processes for the NHS, healthcare workers have more time doing what they do best.
By using a trusted Microsoft Partner like Akari to solve the adoption of low-code solutions, healthcare workers can be provided with a secure messaging and collaboration platform specifically designed for their needs. This allows workers to communicate, share patient information, and collaborate efficiently and securely within their teams, improving care co-ordination and reducing response times. Beyond real time communication, Akari serve healthcare organisations with a centralised hub to access important resources, guidelines, and clinical information. This offers quick access to medical literature, protocols, and educational materials, thus empowering healthcare professionals with up-to-date knowledge and supporting their evidence-based practice.
Want to get in touch?
As a Microsoft FastTrack Ready Partner with extensive industry and technology experience, we help organisations to improve productivity. We are uniquely placed to drive the adoption of Microsoft Technologies and level up your healthcare organisations way of working using your use cases!
If you want to find out more information on using Power Platform to automate your processes, get in touch!
