IT and Clinician Collaboration for Better Workflow

Consumerism is a growing trend in healthcare, which is not surprising given the industry's shift towards value-based care model. As a result, patient expectations have changed. Taking cues from their interactions with other services industries (e.g., food and travel), patients now demand "better" services from healthcare providers, including higher standards of care, greater involvement in decisions regarding treatment, and more transparency in terms of cost.

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Amidst this changing environment, healthcare organisations are compelled to improve the quality of care delivery without necessarily augmenting cost. This goal of enhancing patient experience creates more pressure on physicians who, in addition to serving a rising population of patients with complex conditions, also need to work on documentation and other regulatory requirements. Indeed, these days, it is not uncommon for physicians to work up until midnight to keep pace with their workloads. 

Physician burnout is a critical issue that provider organisations must address to ensure seamless healthcare workflows and attain the goal of enhanced patient experience. Solving this problem requires collaboration between the different healthcare departments; in addition, it is imperative to streamline workflows through the use of technology. Healthcare processes ranging from population health management to value-based care often require accurate analysis of different data – clinical, patient, as well as financial data. However, there is no efficient mode of communication between the information systems. 

Moreover, many provider organisations do not yet have the modern technology needed to analyse the vast troves of information collected from various sources, including wearables, mobile devices, remote sensors, and genomics. Effective collaboration at an organisational level is key to improving healthcare processes/workflows and facilitating more efficient care. Healthcare staff, including physicians, other medical professionals, and IT personnel must be made to understand the roles and responsibilities of other team members.

Closer coordination between the clinicians and IT personnel, in particular, will enable provider organisations to utilise the latest technologies to streamline the workflows and reduce the workloads of physicians. Such collaboration will strengthen professional relationships and more importantly will contribute to the health of patients.

Source: Healthcare Tech

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