Staying ahead is key

As India hosts world’s largest vaccine rollout in an unprecedented pandemic, the healthcare industry has found a stronger footing to build a robust clinical system and overcome the challenges of the new normal, in 2021. By securing patient safety and trust amidst an unforeseen worldwide clinical catastrophe, we have derived massive insights and strategic takeaways that will help us overcome the challenges ahead.

The fight against the pandemic continued as we ensured no dip in the quality of care. Even now, as the vaccine program introduces a ray of hope, our clinical and operations strategists are brainstorming to prepare for the set of possible medical challenges in near future. As we have learnt in the harshest environment possible, in healthcare, it’s never too early to plan to ensure it’s not too late to execute.

Development and evolution of systems and technology in both clinical and non-clinical processes to enhance the patient experience and access to healthcare services is a never-ending process at our hospital. These technologies are helping us improve the efficiency of the clinicians and transparency between the patient, their caretakers and doctors.

It’s been three years that we have implemented the mobile app based, real time access of patients in the intensive care units on the smartphones of our intensivists. We are in the process of strengthening such technologies which will eliminate even the slightest probabilities of human error when it comes to passing important information to senior decision makers and saving lives.

As a part of the smartphone based technological advancements, our OPDs use digital pen and paper. The technology allows patients to access the prescription, written by the clinicians on their own smartphones right after the consultation.

There is little doubt that this year, we will find clinical benchmarks in our response to the COVID pandemic to resolve unsolved clinical challenges. A Forrester report in April 2020 predicted that just in the US, virtual care visits would soar to more than one billion in coming year. Considering the international trends, we have exploited the synergy between medical and telecommunication technology through sustainable and scalable telemedicine facilities.

Our patients are comfortable to connect with the doctors in real-time through audio-video technology. Patients submit their health data such as BP, blood test, x-ray etc. online to the doctor sitting miles away. We may further extend the technology to allow doctors to use a digital stethoscope to listen to the heart, lungs similar to a physical examination and subsequently prescribe relevant medicines. The next step is to initiate virtual outreach posts at remote locations of the state and country where technology can resolve the long standing demand and supply inequality of clinical expertise and resources.

AI, ML, and Big Data are three other factors affecting healthcare delivery in future. We have already implemented an AI BOT-enabled real time process mapping of the patient discharges. The project has helped us eliminate even the slightest delays in the discharging process, thus allowing convenient departure of the patients post recovery and substantially reduce any unnecessary hospital stay. The initiative was earned international reputation by winning the ICT Innovation Award, in reputed HIMSS Elsevier Award Asia Pacific recently. Our goal is to explore such technological solutions to relieve patients of any discomfort during the hospital stay.

Robotics is another field which has gradually earned its place in medicine. The latest Da Vinci Xi robotic surgical systems, currently in use at our hospital allows surgeons to operate in the ‘nooks and crannies,’ of the human body which were impossible to access through a traditional surgical approach. Robotic surgeons have substantially reduced postoperative pain and recovery time, decreased complications and infection rates with improved clinical outcomes for patients as compared to the traditional open surgeries. At present, a select medical fields such as urology, uro-oncology, gynaecology and general surgery are using the robotic surgical systems. In coming years, we will include wide range of specialities and train surgeons in the robotics approach.

We are aware that healthcare in a post-pandemic world will not be the same, and we are at the forefront with resources in place to improve healthcare access and overcome any possible future crisis!