HOSPITALS
Leading the Way in Digital Transformation to Elevate Nursing Care for More Patients
Nantong First People ’ s Hospital Staff Discuss its Digital Nursing Network and how it is Revolutionising Healthcare
WRITTEN BY : HELEN ADAMS
Due to strides in healthcare , education and infrastructure , people all around the world are living longer lives . As a result , one in six people were aged 60 or over by the end of 2023 . While this is wonderful news for well-behaved grandchildren , it means that healthcare workers are busier than ever . Yet due to the pandemic , nurses are tired , traumatised and leaving the sector .
In Nantong , China , the healthcare industry is experiencing a growing problem of the ongoing ageing population and the shortage of nurses .
“ In our current ageing society , there is a prevalence of cardiovascular diseases ,” says Chen Yong , Director of the Equipment Department at Nantong First People ’ s Hospital .
Such instances need to be carefully observed by nurses . However , as Wang Lihua , Nursing Manager , pointed out , “ We are not only struggling with a shortage of nurses , but the situation is further complicated by the fact that nurses at the hospital are burdened with significant time-consuming manual transcription tasks , which can lead to lost and misread patient information .”
Improving personal skills in such a context might be a long-term demand , but recent technological developments offer an efficient boost to immediate optimisation . Over the past few years , Nantong First People ’ s Hospital has revamped the hospital ’ s nursing workflow with the establishment of a ‘ Digital Nursing Network ’.
This programme integrates digitalisation with nursing work to facilitate connectivity and automated data exchange between medical equipment and electronic health records . By using the network , nurses at the hospital can allocate more time to providing direct and quality patient care .
In July 2021 , the pilot programme was introduced in the Emergency Department . More than 90 % of inpatient vital sign data was automatically
52 February 2024