“One of the best reactions? A patient said, ‘This is such a much more modern hospital!’ That’s exactly what we stand for, innovation, which we really value. We estimate that using Alviscan has freed up about half an FTE. That time is now being used for other tasks.” Leendert-Jan Doornbos, innovation coach at Haga Hospital, says this. Leendert-Jan was the driving force behind the project. He explains how Alviscan is performing and how it has improved the workflow.
Labor-saving innovation
“Haga Hospital is one of the 27 STZ hospitals in the Netherlands. That means medical and organizational innovation is a core value for us,” says Leendert-Jan. “As an innovation coach, I support colleagues who are working on innovation. Haga Hospital had been interested in a self-measurement kiosk for some time. That coincided with a request from the work floor: could certain tasks, such as measuring vital signs, be done automatically? We took that call for labor-saving innovation very seriously.”
Haga Hospital chose Alviscan from Alphatron Medical, an innovative solution that allows patients to measure their own vital signs independently before the consultation. The self-measurement kiosk was installed in the hospital’s innovation lab as part of the National Smart Healthcare Relay, and it has essentially never left.
“We immediately saw that the self-measurement kiosk could help us address future staffing shortages”
Leendert-Jan Doornbos, Innovation Coach, Haga Hospital (NL)
Alviscan is currently running in a light version; integration with the EHR will be implemented at a later stage. For now, the physician manually enters the values measured by Alviscan. Still, this already makes a big difference in reducing workload. Leendert-Jan explains, “The doctor’s assistants now have more time for other tasks. They’re very happy and even said, ‘We don’t want to work without it anymore!’ And the medical specialists notice that consultations are running more smoothly.”
Perfect user case
The self-measurement kiosk is located in the gynecology outpatient clinic. This department had an urgent need for an automated blood pressure check. “The advantage in this situation is that patients in this clinic generally don’t have any conditions that interfere with blood pressure measurements,” explains the innovation coach. “That gave us the opportunity to see how the kiosk performed and to assess which other parameters we considered important.”
Blood pressure measurement is the most important in this clinic, but weight is also relevant, especially for pregnant women, as it plays a key role in screening. That’s why Alviscan was configured as a self-measurement kiosk for automatic blood pressure and weight checks, although Leendert-Jan does not rule out the possibility of adding more functions in the future. “For now, it’s a perfect use case.”
Specialist see improved consultation flow
Alviscan significantly reduces the workload for the staff. In the outpatient clinic, someone used to spend about two and a half to three hours per shift measuring blood pressure. Now, 97 percent of patients use the self-measurement kiosk without any issues. The kiosk is very user-friendly, thanks to the use of clear visuals, video instructions and icons. Fewer words, more images, and that makes a big difference.
An important added value is that patients are actively involved in the care process, says Leendert-Jan. “Patients carry out the measurements themselves. Alviscan invites them to sit down and start measuring. That’s a feature a standard electronic blood pressure monitor doesn’t have. And now we get a weight measurement as well, which is a great bonus.”
Succesful innovation is all about collaboration
The innovation coach is very satisfied with how everything went. “When you look at successful innovations in Dutch hospitals, it almost always comes down to projects where you work together with a partner to further develop the product at an early stage. That was the case for us as well. Alphatron optimized Alviscan during the pilot phase. Meanwhile, as a hospital, we looked at where and how we could best deploy the kiosk. A great collaboration.”