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Digital solution improves hospital bed management while reducing stress

Topic
Operating Room
Digital Health
Hospital staff working with INSIGHT to increase bed management
Topic
Operating Room
Digital Health
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Improved patient flow, reduced staff stress levels, increased efficiency and profit. All this was achieved when Funabashi Orthopedics - one of the leading orthopedics hospitals in Japan – replaced manual administration with Getinge’s digital Patient Flow Management solution INSIGHT.

Outcomes of digital hospital  bed management at Funabashi Ortophedics

 

Quick ROI and increased revenue

Smoother reservation process and higher productivity

Efficient bed management boosts planning

 

Reduced hospital stress

Using INSIGHT lets our doctors, nurses, and medical affairs staff spend less time and effort on the admission process. The entire hospital will benefit as admission and occupancy rate increase. Patient satisfaction is also up, as hospitalization schedules are communicated quickly.

Doctor Ichiro Yamaura says, that the  entire hospital will benefit as admission  and occupancy rate increases.

Administrative challenges for the hospital to solve

In 2019, Funabashi Orthopedics still relied on a whiteboard for keeping track of reservations. Availability could not be monitored in real-time and instead required many phone calls back and forth among staffs in three wards, as well as daily walks as the staff needed to check every room to be sure of patient and bed status.

This was the main reason that bed occupancy at Funabashi Orthopedics hovered around 70% (peaking at 79%), indicating wasted resources and staff struggling to keep up with administrational demands. Monitoring real-time availability across three wards and 27 consultant rooms without using a digital information system not only bled time and energy – it even made surgery scheduling impossible when the head nurse was out of the office.

Digitizing the process has really helped us improve efficiency both in terms of managing hospital beds and booking admissions.

Increasing hospital staff satisfaction up top 93% after 9 months

Simple and stress-free solution for hospital staff

Funabashi needed a system to simplify realtime status updates, enable more efficient bed management, and allow for better planning. There were several digital and easy-to-use systems available, but the most affordable ones could not be customized exactly to Funabashi’s needs – and the more flexible services appeared to be well out of budget.

Working closely with Getinge functioning as both an expert resource on digital health solutions and an experienced partner in hospital transformation, Funabashi got to the heart of the issue. They discovered that while INSIGHT might seem too large of an investment, it could pay for itself and become a considerable source of additional revenue in months.

Thanks to the accumulative effects of improved bed utilization, processing speed, patient flow overview, and reducing staff stress, INSIGHT would soon generate a net profit.

Increased bed occupancy with Getinge´s bed management solution INSIGHT

This partnership is a great success, and demonstrates our true value of finding and solving customer challenges through close consultation. We are really looking forward to developing our transformational partnership with Funabashi.

Working together towards hospital staff satisfaction

The planning process saw a close cooperation between doctors, nurses, hospital staff, IT, physiotherapists and Getinge’s digital health solution experts. Over 150 essential functions were closely reviewed before building a customized INSIGHT system dedicated to Funabashi’s needs. One example is the system-wide color coding of patient needs and symptoms, enabling staff to quickly know just what was expected of them. The entire process went from contract signing to live system in three months.

Detailed evaluations were made, focusing on advantages offered by the new system as well as staff user experiences. Despite the learning curve and the changing of familiar habits, staff satisfaction was very high after only five months. The digital bed management was easy to follow (and updates in real
time), staff allocation could be made earlier, and the bed occupancy increased to over 80% (peaking at 90.5% in June of 2022).

An ever-evolving system

The know-how and experience of Getinge is part of what makes INSIGHT work – and what ensures that Funabashi’s system evolves over time as the hospital transformational partnership continues. The fact that Getinge’s experts remain invested in the day-to-day operation alongside the hospital staff is a huge advantage, and a way of staying fully relevant.

Coming improvements on Funabashi’s list include optimizing how higher bed rates coincide with additional staff scheduling, more detailed handling routines for emergencies, and further automation of bed control.

Patient Flow Management with INSIGHT

INSIGHT offers complete control of your patient flow from arrival to discharge. It ensures coordination and communication in and across departments, enabling the best possible care for every single one of your patients.

Managing the whole project

Hospital Transformational Partnerships

Our consultants collaborate with your hospital’s management and staff to streamline workflows, and increase both patient and staff satisfaction. Our recommendations align with your strategy and KPIs, improving patient related outcomes and reducing operating costs.

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