Despite numerous medical advances in recent years, patients in South African hospitals continue to face many of the same challenges they have had for decades, namely lengthy wait times, a lack of effective communication and impersonal care from staff.
In fact, notes Quentin Daffarn, CEO at healthcare communication technology distributor, UC-Wireless, when it comes to issues like patient satisfaction and adherence to international safety standards, the local healthcare sector remains significantly behind the global curve on these matters.
He points out that it is important to recognise that a metric like ‘patient satisfaction’ encompasses far more than merely being a measure of goodwill – it talks directly to patient safety and the quality of care provided by a hospital.
“In addition, it directly impacts on a number of other key metrics, such as health outcomes, profitability, reputation, legal risks and patient retention. Clearly, healthcare facilities aim to drive these outcomes in a positive way and to do this, it is imperative that hospitals focus on leveraging the kinds of technology that enable them to put patient safety and satisfaction first,” he states.
“This means implementing modern systems that move beyond the more traditional legacy technologies used in these institutions. With these nurse call systems, the patient presses a button and staff respond when available, often without any reporting on these events.”
This is obviously far from ideal, as from a patient perspective, they may have to wait long periods without knowing when help will arrive, he explains. Meanwhile, hospital staff find they lack context about the nature – or urgency – of the request until they reach the room. Perhaps most crucially, because of the analogue nature of these systems, there is no clear record of the medical interventions taking place, or who was involved and for how long.
“It’s quite clear that by present international safety standards, this is unsuitable technology to use. The modern healthcare landscape needs communication systems that place their core emphasis on patient-centred care, and which position patient satisfaction at the heart of the system.
“What is required is scalable, new-generation call systems that solve this challenge by integrating multiple layers of communication and automation. Ideally, such a solution will allow patients to choose from request-specific alerts – for example, water, pain medication or bathroom assistance – thus ensuring that the right staff member responds at the outset,” continues Daffarn.
Ensuring the alert goes to the correct individual – such as a request for water routing directly to the dietary aide rather than interrupting a nurse already engaged in clinical care – provides staff with more time to deliver quality care to patients and attend to supporting tasks and workload.
He adds that a call system that also incorporates voice, further improves patient response and nurse efficiency, addressing one of the most common frustrations in a hospital: namely, the feeling of being unseen or unheard. Leveraging the latest technologies in this area will enable healthcare workers to provide higher quality care, and therefore positively impact the overall patient experience.
“A truly advanced nurse call system should boost patient safety and satisfaction in numerous ways. For one, instead of relying on overhead announcements or corridor lights, alerts can be sent directly to a duty nurse’s mobile or wearable device, meaning that patients can get hold of staff easily and effectively.
“Secondly, it needs to ensure that requests are routed to the right staff member in the first place, using role-based routing. This will minimise delays in response and improve workflows, while enabling the prioritisation of more serious emergencies,” he says.
The system should further have built-in escalation protocols, for instances where the primary caregiver does not respond within an allocated period. This helps ensure that the appropriate person is automatically reminded, and then an escalation takes place.
“Finally, real-time data logging will provide insights into where delays occur, thereby allowing teams to streamline responses. The reporting system must capture deviations from care standards and KPIs immediately, thereby preventing minor issues from escalating into severe harm.
“By leveraging technology to provide targeted responses, the patient experience is transformed through better communication, reduced wait times and more personalised care. Ultimately, it’s a simple equation: when patients feel properly heard and cared for, both their view of the entire hospital stay and their overall healthcare experience, improve significantly. This is directly linked to better hospital outcomes, which is why these solutions deliver a clear return on investment (ROI) to hospitals – even in emerging markets that face greater cost challenges than southern Africa,” concludes Daffarn.
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