Applying Automatic Data Collection Tools for Real-Time Patient Management

Abstract

The management of patients in healthcare facilities, such as outpatient clinics and hospital emergency departments, is a significant hospital management problem. In an effort to deal with the volume of patients who visit an emergency department, hospitals often haphazardly add more resources to their emergency department, such as hiring more personnel or adding more treatment rooms, without proper analysis of the impact of the additional resources on the system. These solutions can be quite expensive and yet their effect on improving problems in the system is often negligible. Knowledge management can make these challenges tractable and lead to more effective solutions. For example, through the application of an automated patient management system that collects and utilizes information concerning the status of patients, the flow of patients can be better managed. Hospitals can effectively deal with many of the problems associated with scheduling and overcrowding, and improve the quality of care provided by their institution. To accurately capture and provide access to the volume of precise information required to effectively manage a healthcare facility, an extensive information acquisition system must be created. The information collected can then be used for both real-time and long-term management decisions. These ideas are discussed and elaborated upon in this chapter.