Deliver safer care for everyone with connected healthcare operations

It’s no secret that the healthcare industry has evolved rapidly in recent years, fueled by significant medical and technological developments that have raised the standard of care. While the healthcare industry can be proud of its momentum, there is still work to be done. Hospitals and healthcare systems continue to grapple with fundamental systemic issues that directly impact the quality of care and patient safety. Preventable harm, including medication errors, unsafe surgical procedures, healthcare-associated infections, diagnostic errors, patient falls, patient misidentification and more, remains at an all-time high. Despite advances in patient safety over the past two decades, medical harm is still one of the leading causes of death worldwide.

Worldwide, medical errors are responsible for three million patient deaths per year. Over the course of an hour, 70 hospitalized patients will die or be seriously injured due to medical errors and mistakes. These errors are often the result of system or process errors and are not a direct reflection of the practices of individual healthcare professionals.

This is why addressing preventable harm starts with breaking down the data silos that exist within the healthcare landscape and bringing disparate systems together through connected healthcare operations. Disjointed systems hinder the flow of data and important information that is critical to preventing similar incidents from happening again in the future. By leveraging actionable data and analytics across all operations, hospitals and healthcare systems can identify risks and build a safety culture that better serves patients, families, healthcare workers and the organization as a whole.

Different systems hinder decision-making

The healthcare industry generally has a tremendous amount of data at its fingertips, and this amount is only expected to increase as technologies continue to develop, the industry innovates, and the patient population grows. Healthcare generates 30% of the world’s data, and that data doubles every three years. This wealth of information is a gateway to improving quality care and patient safety, but because 97% of available data goes unused or ignored, developments are suppressed due to disconnected operations.

When healthcare operations are misaligned, information becomes compartmentalized and siloed, hindering healthcare systems’ ability to predict and prevent future safety incidents. To tackle preventable harm properly and holistically, healthcare organizations need information about all activities. However, just access to this data is not enough. Healthcare organizations need the right technology solutions that can transform data into actionable insights, helping their organization make safer and more informed decisions across the board.

The value of connected healthcare operations

Current standard operating technologies remain largely disconnected and often do not meet the modern challenges and demands of our healthcare ecosystem. By connecting disparate technologies, healthcare systems can do more with their data and leverage real-time insights that enable safer patient care. Imagine a system where all back-end software works and communicates consistently and transparently, where information flows from all departments across risk and security, vendor management, compliance and workforce management.

By connecting disparate systems, hospitals and healthcare systems can understand the full picture, reducing variability and risk and ensuring every healthcare interaction is as safe and efficient as possible. By improving collaboration across all activities, we can create a stronger, more unified patient safety culture that centers learning and proactivity.

Take incident reporting, for example: an important part of the overall system. Proper recording of patient safety incidents is crucial for implementing the right technological and organizational changes to improve safety. Many healthcare systems essentially operate in the dark, as unfortunately not all patient safety incidents are recorded. Without knowledge of every patient safety incident within their organization, hospitals and healthcare systems cannot implement efficient and effective changes at the systemic level. Deploying advanced incident reporting software that not only makes it easier to capture all incident data, but also enables data sharing and the flow of operational insights across all departments, is critical to achieving safer care.

The future of safer care

In recent years, the topic of safer healthcare has received increased attention in the media, mainly due to the changing role of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare and the growing discussion about regulation. As hospitals and healthcare systems continue to explore its implementation, we are beginning to see how AI can help break down these data silos and improve efficiency, as well as serve as a tool to empower the people behind our workforce. Referring to the example of incident reporting, generative AI can make it easier for healthcare workers to record incidents. In the future, AI and machine learning can be used to help identify trends from incident reports, allowing for better prediction and prevention of future events.

As healthcare leaders, we must seize the moment and make real changes to ensure patient safety always comes first. At a national level, we are already seeing an organized response around using the latest technology to make healthcare safer. Recently, a coalition of leading healthcare organizations and experts proposed a new federal board dedicated to patient safety, housed in the Department of Health and Human Services: the National Patient Safety Board (NPSB). The NPSB would focus on developing technology and AI-driven solutions to patient safety issues, including medication errors, wrong-site surgeries, pathology lab errors, and issues transitioning from acute to long-term care, shifting the burden of data collection to the front line is illuminated. while also detecting precursors of damage. I am hopeful that a day will come when holistic prevention of adverse patient events can occur and a truly connected healthcare system exists.

Patients all over the world deserve good care. By connecting disparate technologies and building an equitable culture open to detecting, analyzing, and learning from adverse events, health systems can reduce preventable harm and achieve high reliability and prevention.

Photo: Dilok Klaisataporn, Getty Images