Increasing Healthcare Communication Efficiency Through the Cloud

Article Written by Avery Phillips

If there’s one industry where time and precision count, it’s in the healthcare industry. When handling the health of the general public, it’s important that healthcare employees are able to communicate as efficiently as possible, as small communication mistakes can lead a patient to receive the incorrect diagnosis or be given the wrong treatment plan. As the healthcare industry continues to integrate technology into their day-to-day work processes, the use of the cloud and IoT technology to send files back and forth is improving efficiency in the industry.

Preventing Mistakes With Asset Tracking

Mistakes in the medical industry are unfortunate events that can lead to potentially life threatening errors. These errors can be as small as mislabeling blood samples, or writing down incorrect or illegible numbers on dosing instructions, which happen more often without the use of digital files transferred through cloud technology. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations works to reduce the number of errors committed by establishing good communication practices in healthcare that help avoid circumstances that bring about error.

One of the policies The Joint Commission has implemented to reduce errors includes asset tracking, which is the process of scanning and monitoring hospital specimens into an online database to avoid misplacing them. This helps streamline hospital processes because all materials are checked and accounted for, and easily accessible through the cloud. The efficient communication that asset tracking through the cloud provides allows hospitals and their medical professionals to remain on timely schedules and keep track of vital equipment and duties. 

As more hospitals jump on the cloud, the benefits of the latest medical technologies are likely to expand and to increase the ease of communication between all kinds of hospitals. Telemedicine is a growing function in the 21st century, as doctors start to make video calls the new house calls. This can save doctors and patients a lot of time by removing the physical aspect to doctor visits for minor concerns. The IoT is becoming a regular aspect of healthcare, and as long as hospitals keep standardized technology, the cloud will continue to be a huge asset for hospitals.

Future Medical Workforce

As technology and uses for the cloud become more ingrained in modern medicine, healthcare communication should continue to become more efficient, which should stem, not only into hospital functions but into primary doctor offices and clinics. Healthcare communication is not only about asset tracking, it’s about increasing communication efficiency through integrated health care, which involves communication between all of a patient’s medical professionals. Integrated healthcare is simplified by the cloud by providing all of a patient’s medical professionals with access to their medical files, which can add context to any health-related issue a patient is going through and ease a doctor’s ability to prioritize all of them. 

Integrated care is about treating every part of a patient with the attention it deserves. "There is such a large need in our medical system to address the behavioral issues that contribute greatly to chronic health conditions and policy is moving to support it," said Colleen Clemency Cordes, clinical associate professor and director of ASU’s Doctor of Behavioral Health Program. Health professionals recognize that when one aspect of a person’s health is failing, it affects their overall health, and that hospital files and communication intrude on their ability to care for the whole patient. 

Focusing on every aspect of a patient’s care can be made significantly easier through a more efficient healthcare communication system. Recent healthcare technology allows medical professionals to share patient files and information in real time across many platforms. As more hospitals and medical centers integrate the cloud into their filekeeping, the process of integrated healthcare will be simplified because it will be easier for doctors to dedicate sufficient attention to each aspect of a patient’s health. 

Healthcare communication is a vital aspect of efficiency in the healthcare system. Through standard practices like monitoring asset tracking and integrated healthcare through the cloud, health providers will not only be able to reach more patients in a shorter amount of time, they will also be able to more thoroughly address a patient’s needs. This will potentially decrease the amount of life threatening errors committed in hospitals each day, and improve the overall health of the population.

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About the Author

Avery Phillips is a unicorn of a human being who loves all things relating to people and their entrepreneurial spirits. Comment down below or tweet her @a_taylorian.