Four Strategies Hospital Administrators Can Use to Improve Efficiencies in 2022

With most hospitals still being stretched to the limit in terms of staffing and lack of bed space, it becomes even more important for the coming year that all possible efficiencies are gained to relieve stress on personnel and equipment.

Those strategies capable of producing the best efficiency gains should be the ones given the most consideration because they provide the best chance for coping with the enormous strain being put on hospital resources.

With that in mind, here are some suggestions for helping your healthcare facility improve efficiencies in 2022.

Use a healthcare answering service

In hospitals that are short on staff or are small to begin with, medical personnel who normally handle patient care are often obliged to deal with incoming calls as well. At this point, productivity begins to take a serious nosedive. By engaging the services of a medical answering service, your healthcare personnel will be freed up to focus on patient care and deliver maximum value to the facility. When medical personnel don’t have to worry about doing administrative tasks, they will be much more efficient in their daily jobs.

Make use of chatbots 

A chatbot (derived from “chat robot”) is a computer program that simulates human conversation, either via voice or text communication. Organizations use chatbots to engage with customers alongside the classic customer service channels of phone, email, and social media.

There are many ways that chatbots could be used successfully in a hospital. For example, they can be programmed to deliver advice on how to take prescriptions, show where local pharmacies are, recommend types of healthcare suitable for a range of symptoms, and provide quick answers to frequently asked questions. All this can relieve the burden on medical personnel, so they can be doing more productive types of work.

Attach RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags to equipment 

RFID tags are a type of tracking system that uses radiofrequency to search, identify, track, and communicate with items and people. Essentially, RFID tags are smart labels that can store a range of information – from serial numbers to a short description, and even pages of data.

If your hospital is a large organization, it undoubtedly has hundreds if not thousands of pieces of equipment used to treat patients. It can be critical to know the location of all this equipment, especially in an emergency. By equipping your hospital machines with RFID tags, you’ll always be able to instantly locate them. This will save you from having to either conduct time-consuming searches or from having to order brand new equipment.

Increase operating room efficiencies

There are few strategies that can be adopted that will deliver more value and efficiency to a healthcare organization than to increase operating room efficiencies. And one of the best ways to do that is to implement the DinamicOR Back Table Solution. One of the first areas of gained efficiency comes with a consistent layout of medical tools and devices on an Operating Room back table. All these implements will be easily visible and retrievable, allowing for maximum OR efficiency. Using the accompanying DinamicOR+ Workflow Management App, an organization can load all procedures into the App for ready review and consultation by staff members, thereby creating additional uniformity and consistent training.

Will your hospital be more efficient in 2022?

There are, of course, other ways for your hospital to become more efficient during the coming year. But if you want to realize some of these efficiency gains, now is the time to start planning for and implementing some of the strategies like these. Such strategies will help you streamline operations and cope more effectively with the conditions imposed by the continuing pandemic.