Demand for healthcare services has grown over the years for a wide range of reasons. Beyond population growth in different areas caused by births and migrations, technological advances have made it easier than ever before for health care providers to understand and treat different conditions. Changes in insurance options have also made it possible for those who might normally forego examinations, testing and treatment because of cost concerns, such as the poor and elderly, to seek services from individual doctors, specialists and emergency treatment centers. As a result, healthcare professionals and medical product manufacturers have come up with a variety of creative ways to keep up with this increased demand for services:
Electronic Data Management
In the past, providers went through painstakingly slow processes for collecting, handling, studying, storing and sharing important data provided to them by patients, colleagues, laboratories, and others. For example, physicians and members of their staff use to rely on difficult-to-transcribe handwritten notes and easily misplaced and destroyed hard copy health record documents in unwieldy file folders. Cutting-edge data collection and communication technologies have improved data management by leaps and bounds. Voice-to-text software, electronic health records that feature drop-down menu diagnosis, medication, and treatment code choices and email, chat, and video communication services now provide health care practitioners and patients rapid access to the information they need and value. Additionally, aggregate data collected from surveys, focus groups, research studies and other sources give healthcare workers a better understanding of various conditions and health care topics. This information helps them to keep up with demand and make better general decisions and treatment judgment calls.
Telemedicine Solutions
Many patients don’t have the time or patience to wait on hold via a phone to speak with a nurse or receptionist or sit in a waiting room while visiting their doctor for a seemingly minor problem. Members of the medical community and health industry manufacturers have developed a wide range of telemedicine solutions to make it easy and convenient for patients to manage and improve their health and help providers use their time in more effective ways. For example, most hospital systems now offer patients access to online appointment scheduling and messaging services, diagnostic reports, and health care tips through secure healthcare management accounts. Also, more doctors offer patients the option to teleconference with a nurse or physician via video chat. These services reduce the amount of time that front office workers spend on the phone performing basic answering service work. Since telemedicine solutions make it easier for a patient to determine from home if one or more symptoms are a cause for concern, these tools also free up time for nurses and reduce long lines and wait times at hospital emergency rooms and urgent care centers so that those who actually need immediate physical help or life-saving measures receive care faster.
Medical Product Kitting
Health care providers and their employees previously lost hours every day to prepping medical supplies and devices in packets and pull-out drawers and on trays for examinations and emergencies. To regain this lost time, many hospital systems and physicians now place batch orders based on specific procedures with medical manufacturing and product kitting companies like Pacific Integrated Manufacturing, Inc. So that they receive tools they need already gathered in kits. These products allow them to focus on patients and using their time more efficiently. In an emergency room, for example, product kitting guarantees that ER staff have immediate access to the exact sterilized tools they need based on the type of medical emergency. Laboratories receive supplies batched together by test type so that they don’t run out of any necessary components for individual tests. Product kitting also helps guarantee that patients receive all of the medications, instructions, tools, and devices needed to administer drugs and monitor treatment correctly at one time. Kits reduce the number of calls made to physicians, pharmacists and other providers that result when a patient or caregiver can’t find necessary medical supplies.
Of course, these are only a few of the ways that modern healthcare providers keep up with demand. Whether you’re a patient or provider, these and other services do more than simply reduce the amount of time and money lost to certain processes. In addition to enjoying faster, more convenient health care services, patients enjoy fewer record errors and better patient-physician interactions and health care outcomes. A less stressful office environment also helps lower worker irritation and fatigue, which makes it possible for providers to give patients more of their total attention and the best care.