The impact of digital transformation on hospitals' operational decisions

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When it comes to controlling capacity on the supply side properly, digital technology can also help.

Fremont, CA: To develop and stay ahead of the competition, many businesses are interested in digital transformation, leveraging digital technology to establish or improve company processes, culture, and customer experiences. Hospitals are no exception.

When most individuals consider digital transformation in health care, they envision using data to improve clinical decision-making. As a result, artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms are rapidly getting employed to enhance the visual identification of illness indications in domains such as radiology, dermatology, gastroenterology, ophthalmology, and pathology.

However, concentrating primarily on digital transformation to improve clinical decision-making is a mistake. Based on much research and the research of others, as well as the burgeoning advances in how hospitals use data and technology, experts believe that digital transformation has a significant role to play in optimizing hospitals' operational decision-making, which can lead to improvements in the quality and efficiency of care, as well as patient access to it.

The following are the main areas where hospitals may use digital transformation to boost overall decision-making:

Patient Flow

As hospitals attempt to give the appropriate treatment to the right patient at the right time, physicians must accomplish two things: properly assess patients' needs and efficiently manage hospital resources. Unfortunately, while doctors are highly prepared to perform the former, they rarely get equipped to do the latter, which is a difficult assignment, especially given the demand on hospital capacity that has become too prevalent due to the epidemic.

Data-driven operational decision-support technologies in hospitals can give useful insights to help with triage, admission, and discharge choices.

Staffing

When it comes to controlling capacity on the supply side properly, digital technology can also help. For example, consider nurse staffing, accounting for a sizable amount of hospital spending. Charge nurses and hospital managers may use analytics to optimize this process instead of depending on phone calls, text messages, and spreadsheets to make ad hoc staffing decisions that frequently alter at the last minute.

Scheduling

Even though many hospitals have shifted to computerized capture and storage of patient information, resource scheduling remains mostly manual. This is true for the scheduling of surgical operations in operating rooms, scans in radiology suites, and various other treatments. It is yet another area where digital technology may make a significant difference by better forecasting resource demands, seamlessly absorbing last-minute changes and cancellations, and improving timetables based on recent research.