How does MedTech help medical centers adapt to ramp-ups?

Managing a ramp-up, characterized by a sudden and significant increase in demand for healthcare, is a major challenge for any medical establishment.

In this stressed scenario, placing HCPs under pressure, MedTech can play a key role in supporting and strengthening an establishment’s capacities. The term MedTech comes from a contraction of the words “medical” and “technology” and these innovative solutions can facilitate both the daily lives of medical staff and patient pathways.

What are the issues faced by a medical establishment during ramp-up periods? And how does MedTech improve healthcare capacity in a stressed environment?

The challenges for medical establishments during a ramp-up

Medical establishments are faced with several sensitive issues during a ramp-up period: 

• • bed management: a sudden increase in the number of patients may lead to saturation of available beds, which complicates the care of new patients. The challenge is to optimize correct rotation in bed use, in order to accommodate as many patients as possible under optimal conditions. 
  • human resources management: unfortunately, healthcare staff cannot be everywhere and are under considerable pressure during a ramp-up. It is important to relieve medical staff of non-essential tasks (administrative for example) to allow them to focus on the care to be provided.  

• inter-departmental communication: fluid and effective communication between the various departments of the establishment is essential for coordinating the administration of care during a ramp-up. The sharing of health data between the various specialists plays a strategic role in this respect. Well-organized interdepartmental communication helps to optimize patient care processes and ensure consistent continuity of care. 
• the quality of patient care: the sudden increase in the number of patients
  must not affect quality of care. Despite the complexity of the situation, medical staff must remain able to make informed decisions, offer the best possible care and care for new patients as quickly as possible.

The crucial role of MedTech 

Several innovative technologies can help medical establishments cope with a ramp-up:

• Cloud: Cloud-based solutions enable the efficient storage, management and sharing of medical data. Specifically, using the cloud makes it possible, for example, to remotely store and centralize each patient’s health data (clinical history, ongoing treatments, medical imaging, etc.) in applications accessible by each health professional, including those of other establishments. This results in better information sharing and coordination and also saves time since there is no longer a need to request the same information for a patient multiple times.
  

• the remote management of the care pathway: tele-consultation services (also hosted in the Cloud), digital medical records, the provision of online examination results, etc. are all innovative services that make it possible to reduce the flow of patients within the medical establishment. This remote management of the care pathway allows caregivers to focus on the care of people who really need care, while improving the comfort of patients who no longer have to travel for non-urgent reasons. 
• artificial intelligence: artificial intelligence algorithms can speed up and improve diagnosis, identify treatments to be administered, and even analyze medical imaging. AI thus plays the role of assistant to the healthcare professional, saving them valuable time and allowing them to focus on administering patient care. 
• the Internet of Things (IoT): in the medical environment, this technology makes it possible to install a multitude of smart sensors in order to facilitate management of the establishment. For example, geolocation tags installed on each bed can enable staff to know exactly where the beds available within buildings are located. Connected devices can also allow caregivers to monitor patients’ vital signs in real time and remotely, and be alerted in real time when needed for better provision of care.  

The difficulties posed by a ramp-up are no longer insurmountable for medical establishments. MedTech based on AI, the Cloud and IoT are now enabling them to meet this challenge… and will continue to evolve to shape healthcare in the future.