Many healthcare organisations are looking forward to 2021 – and for good reason.
When the COVID-19 pandemic began, vital healthcare equipment was in short supply.
Budgets quickly became strained as elective procedures were halted, or voluntarily delayed by patients, and as COVID spread, healthcare workers and the systems they support quickly became overwhelmed.
But, despite the many challenges of 2020, healthcare organisations have gained considerable insights and experience that will transform healthcare well into the future.
As we look forward to 2021, we are seeing hospitals increasingly embracing technologies such as barcodes, RFID, and RTLS to gain unprecedented visibility and control of their supply chain and inventory management systems
Today, hospitals are already adopting technologies that are helping them realise critical cost savings and productivity benefits.
And these advancements promise to become mainstream after the pandemic is a distant memory.
Speaking to BBH, Wayne Miller, director of EMEA healthcare practice at Zebra Technologies, discusses the trends we can expect to see in 2021.
1. Focus on the supply chain
Even before the pandemic, supply chain inefficiencies cost hospitals more than $25.7billion a year, according to an analysis from Guidehouse.
And the pandemic further exacerbated those shortcomings.
Ventilators and basic supplies needed to keep patients and clinicians safe, such as hand sanitiser and personal protective equipment (PPE), were hard to come by.
Miller predicts: “As we look forward to 2021, we are seeing hospitals increasingly embracing technologies such as barcodes, radio frequency identification (RFID), and real-time location systems (RTLS) to gain unprecedented visibility and control of their supply chain and inventory management systems.
Research shows that technologies like RTLS can result in up to 50% faster bed turnover times, and as much as a three-hour reduction in patient length of stay
“These visibility enhancements will also help hospitals reduce inventory waste due to unused and expired supplies.”
2. Streamlining patient care
Beds also became a scarce resource at many hospitals in 2020.
And, this year, more hospitals will explore new ways to move patients through the system faster.
“Hospitals can use both location technologies and mobile computers to track and streamline treatment throughout a patient’s stay”, explains Miller.
“Using these technologies, hospitals can create an ‘electronic whiteboard’ that records everything from specimen analysis and X-rays to physical therapy.
“Hospitals can then monitor precisely how long each treatment takes, and identify where workflow bottlenecks exist.
“For instance, is it difficult to find a wheelchair to transport a discharged patient? Or are there regular backups in X-ray, laboratory testing, social services, or other areas that affect patient care?
“Technology has proven highly effective in improving patient turnaround times and hospital workflows.
“RTLS tags, for example, can be added to wheelchairs so that nurses can locate them quickly to speed patient discharge.
“Once the patient is wheeled out of the room, nurses can use their purpose-built mobile devices to notify housekeeping that the room is available for cleaning.
Purpose-built mobile devices that allow nurses and doctors to communicate better and streamline workflows effectively reduce stress for providers, while also improving patient care
“Research shows that technologies like RTLS can result in up to 50% faster bed turnover times, and as much as a three-hour reduction in patient length of stay.
“In a 275-bed hospital, cutting just four hours off the average hospital stay is the same as adding 10 new beds.”
3. Making healthcare professionals’ jobs easier
Staff burnout became a huge issue in 2020, with hospital facilities and clinicians struggling to keep up.
And one way to reduce burnout is to make clinicians’ roles easier.
To accomplish this, many hospitals are again turning to technology to facilitate better clinician communications and improve workflows.
“Purpose-built mobile devices that allow nurses and doctors to communicate better and streamline workflows effectively reduce stress for providers, while also improving patient care,” explains Miller.
“At the same time, handheld mobile computers help mitigate alarm fatigue by sending alerts directly to the right caregiver.
“Nurses can use those same mobile devices to enter vitals directly into a patient’s electronic health record (EHR) while at the bedside, thus reducing the amount of time they spend on charting and reducing errors.
“Doctors and nurses armed with mobile devices can be notified immediately when a patient gets test results – and can quickly communicate how those results might affect patient treatment.
“No wonder surveys show that 97% of bedside nurses and 98% of physicians foresee relying on mobile technology by 2022.”
4. Stemming the spread of infection
‘Sanitise everything!’ became a mantra in 2020 as COVID continued to spread.
But the need for sanitisation in healthcare organizations has always been critical, given that healthcare-acquired infections affect an estimated 1.7 million patients each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The good news is that these lessons learned will have a positive impact on the way healthcare facilities manage their inventory and workflows going forward
However, in 2020, some hospitals found that their non-rugged devices could not withstand repeated cleaning and sanitising because they were not built with healthcare-grade plastics.
In 2021, according to Miller, we will see more hospitals adopt mobile computers, printers, and handheld scanners that are purpose-built to withstand repeated wipe downs with approved cleaning agents to reduce the spread of infection.
5. Telehealth will continue to grow
When telehealth became more accepted in 2020, some hospitals used technology to create ‘virtual doctors’ by mounting rugged mobile tablets on IV poles that allowed specialists to interact with patients via video.
Many hospitals found that this virtual solution resulted in faster care for patients because specialists could handle multiple consults without wasting time traveling between rooms or hospitals.
Miller told BBH: “In 2021, more hospitals will rely heavily on virtual patient consultations for more-efficient patient care while also keeping both patients and clinicians safe.
Looking Forward
There is no doubt that the pandemic of 2020 will have a lasting impact on healthcare.
Miller concludes: “The good news is that these lessons learned will have a positive impact on the way healthcare facilities manage their inventory and workflows going forward.”