Summary
Hospitals have over the last few decades invested heavily in large Healthcare software solutions such as Patient Administration Systems (PAS), Lab Information Systems (LIS or LIMS), Order Requesting Systems (Order Comms) and Electronic Patient Record Systems (EPR). These systems worked perfectly as record keeping systems and decision guidance systems that required the user to find a suitable terminal and work at that screen away from the Patient or activity.
The modern hospital has determined this practice of leaving the patient or activity and engaging with the system is causing errors and contributing to a number of incidents that result in delays or even the incorrect operation performed on a patient or the wrong unit of blood transfused.
At the same time as this realisation the mobile computing revolution has caught up with demand to offer new options to Hospitals to allow them never to leave the patient and have guidance and information at their fingertips with Positive Patient ID (PPID).
Mobile computing will save lives in combination with PPID.
The problem with this technology evolution is the larger monolith systems do not move that fast from a technology point of view. This is because the technologies these systems were built on are often not modern multi-tiered enterprise platforms but instead single tiered older systems that do not adapt to change well.
This means the larger healthcare systems do not readily have mobile patient vicinity systems unless you count a large laptop on a trolley as mobile computing in the true sense of the phrase(!).
This is where Sample360 comes in. Sample360 has a powerful integration and interoperability interface that allows it to interface with these older healthcare monolith systems via HL7 and FIHR. This means Sample360 provides the patient bedside and patient activity vicinity based mobile solution required by the hospital.
Sample360 is the doughnut ring around the older healthcare systems such as PAS, LIS, LIMS, Order Comms and EPR.
Sample360 is digital Sample collection management system that enables clinical staff to use handheld devices (Handheld) at the bedside to access the Hospital Electronic Order Requests System. The Handheld receives real-time Sample order requests (providing an electronic worklist) and confirms a Patient’s identity. It then prints Sample tube labels featuring an identifying barcode which allows the Sample tube to be loaded directly onto the analyser when it reaches the laboratory.
The digital management system enables paper-free sampling and vastly reduces the risk of error. Sample orders are RAG rated to enable easy identification of highest priority requirements.
Samples are tracked in transit and alert the handheld device once the Sample has been received at the lab, when it is being analysed and when the results are ready. The tracking system is fully automatic and removes the need for clinicians to call the lab for progress reports. The system will also issue an alert if the analyser has had a problem which requires a re-Sample.
Hospitals already using the system have found that the barcode labels have eliminated all incidents of the wrong blood in the wrong Sample tube and all instances of Sample rejection. They also report huge efficiencies in the laboratory, as Samples no longer need to be re-labelled before being loaded into the analyser.
Download the White-paper “Sample360: The Doughnut Problem”
The Doughnut Hole
What is in the Hospital doughnut hole and why is it a doughnut?
It is simple. It is full of an interconnecting web of old technology monolith systems trying to communicate in an old way.
These systems include:
- Patient Administration Systems (PAS),
- Lab Information Systems (LIS or LIMS),
- Order Requesting Systems (Order Comms) and,
- Electronic Patient Record Systems (EPR).
What evidence have we got to prove they live inside the doughnut hole?
- The high manual interaction with the system,
- walking between patient and computer,
- large amounts of paper and,
- the number of errors due to human error.
If the hospital is experiencing any of the above symptoms, then they have monolith healthcare systems living inside the doughnut hole away from the Patient on the outside of the doughnut.
The network layout of the doughnut Hole will look like this:
The overall interaction diagram, the doughnut :
Replace the Doughnut with Sample360.cloud
Sample360 can simply replace the doughnut dough ring causing all the errors and mistakes. The Sample360 application joins the big monolith healthcare systems to the Patients bedside using the latest mobile technology.
Sample360.cloud has effectively become the hospitals new and favourite brand of doughnut as it helps the Clinicians reduce their workload and prevent errors.
Clinicians collecting Samples never need to leave the Patients bedside which has been proven as the main source of human error. This means Clinicians can do the following directly at the bedside:
- Receive Electronic Worklists at the Bedside
- Automatic updates of Patient Location
- Positive Patient ID at the Bedside at the beginning and end of the process
- Print Tube labels at the Bedside
- Guidance of what to collect and in what order
- Can see requesters notes on the device
- Can see collection advice and guidance
- No paper
- Reminders if the process is interrupted so they can return
- No need to return to the Order Comms or PAS
- Logistics/ Porters/ Orderlies are alerted when Sample is ready for collection
- No more walking and waiting for Terminals to become free
- No need to push a large trolley to the Bedside
- Speeds the whole process up by more than 2 minutes
The Lab benefits too:
- Sample Start and End times are recorded – Lab instantly gets this information
- Logistics teams are more efficient collecting Urgent Samples
- Labels are Analyser ready – put the tubes straight onto the track
- LIS/ LIMS is updated the sample has been collected and it is on its way
- No more re-labelling of Samples
- Visible workflow displayed on Dashboards
So, the Hospital or Group of Hospitals has a Win-Win situation because they do not need to upgrade their monolith Healthcare systems to benefit from modern healthcare mobile applications at the bedside.
The new Sample360.cloud doughnut:
Conclusion
Hospitals have over the last few decades invested heavily in large Healthcare software solutions such as Patient Administration Systems (PAS), Lab Information Systems (LIS or LIMS), Order Requesting Systems (Order Comms) and Electronic Patient Record Systems (EPR). These systems worked perfectly as record keeping systems and decision guidance systems that required the user to find a suitable terminal and work at that screen away from the Patient or activity.
The modern hospital has determined this practice of leaving the patient or activity and engaging with the system is causing errors and contributing to a number of incidents that result in delays or even the incorrect operation performed on a patient or the wrong unit of blood transfused.
At the same time as this realisation the mobile computing revolution has caught up with demand to offer new options to Hospitals to allow them never to leave the patient and have guidance and information at their fingertips with Positive Patient ID (PPID).
Mobile computing will save lives in combination with PPID.
The problem with this technology evolution is the larger monolith systems do not move that fast from a technology point of view. This is because the technologies these systems were built on are often not modern multi-tiered enterprise platforms but instead single tiered older systems that do not adapt to change well.
This means the larger healthcare systems do not readily have mobile patient vicinity systems unless you count a large laptop on a trolley as mobile computing in the true sense of the phrase(!).
This is where Sample360 comes in.
Sample360 has a powerful integration and interoperability interface that allows it to interface with these older healthcare monolith systems via HL7 and FIHR. This means Sample360 provides the patient bedside and patient activity vicinity based mobile solution required by the hospital.
Sample360 is also cloud based; this means that it is perfectly suited to the modern Healthcare environments as it is quickly deployed, and the Hospital can invest slowly in the technology without the need for a wham-bam investment. Sample360.cloud is offered with contracts as short as 6 months or a commitment to 5 years – obviously, the longer commitment attracts better pricing.
Sample360 has been designed to operate on the modern mobile devices and it is available on Apple iOS and Google Android. Sampel360 also offers a web interface too supporting all modern browsers and includes a powerful Business Intelligence tool called Exago; this tool provides reports and dashboards.
Sample360 can also offer trial with all the hardware included.
Sample360 is the “glazed” doughnut ring around the older healthcare systems such as PAS, LIS, LIMS, Order Comms and EPR.
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