Smartphones in Healthcare

Whereas, there's a sort of addiction to use the smartphone for almost anything, the use in / for Healthcare has not caught steam yet.

For example, booking a table on Zomato is easy, but a doctor's appointment has its own challenges. To know where your cab is, via Uber is so simple, but tracking an ambulance not so.

It's not that people are not aware of the need for such solutions, it's just that the solutions available somehow don't seem to adapt to the patient's behavior.

Designing a solution from the patient's perspective is key here. That said one must also consider the role of various stakeholders in the workflow - clinic / hospital admin, doctors, service providers etc.

There's a start though. Apps are available to book lab tests, medicines, diet plans etc. There are multiple apps to help patients book appointments too, but they are facing acceptance challenges.

Also, although there are similarities, workflows are not typically standard in Healthcare - for example - a dentist's practice varies from that of an dermatologist. This means apps which is highly flexible will click. And that seems the way forward.

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The Digital Mindset

Nowadays, every chatter and paper mentions “Digital”. Broadly, it relates to replacing manual / paper based processes with computer based workflows. Hence with “Digital”, along come its sibling “Automation”. We believe together they represent “Digitzation”.

Now, I don’t think Digitzation is simply binary. It’s more like a journey. An important test of how we apply Change Management. Especially in healthcare, it must seamlessly blend in the daily routines of admin and clinical staff.

Whereas in other sectors, malfunction in an ERP may disturb processes or some manufacturing batches; in a hospital - a glitch in the HIS (Hospital Information System) may affect the way you handle patients’ lives.

We came across a hospital, that had pushed hard to go-live with a new swanky HIS. When they did, the accounting module bombed the very first day. The hospital had to overnight go back to their earlier system.

Rather than seeing which module can go live, to start with, identify which are small-change, high-impact processes. For eg. avoid repeat paper generation, improve data capture during patient registration etc

In sum, in healthcare, for any new solution we need to first ascertain - how easily can we “Adapt” to what we “Adopt”.

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Software - Assessing the need, and using it to the fullest.

It's amazing that, even in 2018, we still come across hospitals and clinics with software that is used only for patient registration, accounting and billing. There's so much more that applications can do nowadays. We realised that this may be happening for few reasons. a. the organisation did not list their requirements completely beforehand b. they are stuck with a vendor who can't update existing version or c. both the software and vendor and ready, but the change management in the organisation has not been handled well.

Since software like Hospital Information Systems (HIS), Practice Management / Electronic Medical Records (EMR) are complex and deal directly with patient care, it's important to lay emphasis on 4 fundamental points -

1. Specifications - you need to assess your needs clearly, not only from current standpoint but also with a vision for at least 5-7 years

2. Scalability - the software should be upgradable with newer features and technologies with minimum change in infrastructure. Vendor selection also depends on this.

3. System Implementation - however good the software is , if it's not implemented properly it's going to be counter-productive. This is key for successful adoption and confidence of the organisation staff.

4. Support - the software provider must be available when you need them. Period.

It's good to keep this points in mind, while assessing new software next time.

#MedRecordOnPhone #HealthcareMadeSmart

The informed patient.

We live in an age now where almost all our questions are answered by "Googling". It's really cool, isn't it?

The patient is now far more informed about his illness, condition, medication etc than ever before. But with more information, comes more indecisiveness. Hence it must be used wisely.

The internet may work well for generic wellness suggestions, but when comes to medications it can be misleading. For example, knowing what your tablet contains is good, but relying on dosage suggested by the internet can be harming. As far healthcare is concerned, it seems that what we gain from the internet, is simply 'information' and not 'knowledge'. Therefore, we must leave it to what our doctors diagnose and prescribe. After all, thats their forte !

#MedRecordOnPhone #HealthcareMadeSmart

Calendars can be helpful

Being parents of two kids, our busy routines some times make it difficult, for my wife and me, to remember the immunisation calendar as advised by the paediatrician. Most of the times, it’s a task just to locate the file.

Intervals of the vaccine vary from a fortnight, to a month or even a year; let alone the difficult names of the vaccines.

However, to help us remember the dates, we found Google Calendar very useful. (I think most of us have a Google account now :)) I made a simple spreadsheet of the dates and names of the immunisations, and uploaded it in my calendar. Then I set notifications to remind me about the event 1-day before. I even shared that calendar with my wife. All set !

We haven’t missed a single vaccine since then. Give it a shot !

#MedRecordOnPhone #HealthcareMadeSmart

Keeping your medical records with you

My uncle in Delhi wanted to send his medical records for an additional opinion from a doctor in Mumbai. He simply clicked a photo of recent investigations and sent it to me via WhatsApp. So simple.

However, I’m sure if he will be required to share the same report after a year, he will struggle to locate it. Sometimes, we don’t realise simple, yet useful utilities of the devices we use.

Most of us now own a smartphone with a decent camera. While it may click great pictures and selfies on your vacations , it’s also really useful to click photos of your health documents store in a folder on your phone. This will keep all your important medical stuff in one place - Prescriptions, test reports etc. Easily accessible and shareable. In fact you can sign up for secure cloud service, and sync all your records there. So that even if you lose your phone, your records still stay with you.

So the next time you get a treatment, consultation or an even an investigation, be sure you get a nice photo and save it on your phone.

#MedRecordOnPhone #HealthcareMadeSmart