Technology in hospitals can delay care

Recommendations

Ideally, a hybrid of paper and technology should be used to support the activities of healthcare professionals. This would ensure work flow was uninterrupted by unintended consequences. Combining digital technologies and paper-based records can seamlessly facilitate the execution of work activities during healthcare service delivery.

In hospital settings work activities such as consultations, remote referrals and treatment plan management require different tools. These include health-related smart mobile devices and desktop computers. It’s important that mobile applications are designed with specific context in mind. For example, a mobile app can be used to record the clinical notes generated during consultations between doctors and patients. This would allow doctors to pay full attention to their patients and have access to the digital transcripts.

Features such as voice-activated commands and solar-powered electronic systems could be incorporated into communications technology that healthcare professionals already use. In this way, information is swiftly available in an electronic format and less time can be spent on writing and filing paper records.

Hospital information systems need to enable users to read and write on desktop computers as well as mobile platforms to reduce duplication errors. This ensures that doctors have full control when updating the necessary information for treatment plans and patient visits.

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Oluwamayowa O. Ogundaini is lecturer, Information Technology, Cape Peninsula University of Technology