Wristband | Customized Wristbands Shop Grand Selection

Bar Coded Wristbands

August 19, 2010 admin No comments

Doctors tell GS1 UK how to improve NHS

There are currently around 120,000 hospital doctors in the NHS. The joint research team sent out a survey to establish their opinions about improving ward services and quality of care as well as making use of technology to improve patient safety and efficiency.

Lack of access to up-to-date patient information
The survey, completed by 409 UK hospital doctors, found that patient care and hospital efficiency was being compromised by poor access to accurate and up-to-date patient information.

Patient records and lab results go missing at least once a day for 35% of doctors and several times a day for a further 19%
Over 20,000 doctors spend an hour a day waiting for patient information – over 4,000 waiting more than 4 hours
12% of doctors feel they ‘rarely' have enough time to check patient's medical records thoroughly before treating them

Better information sharing critical
Doctors were also asked what could be done to improve the care of their patients. Many of them believe that if the NHS could improve how information is shared, it would boost efficiency and make the patient referrals process much smoother.

Commenting on the findings, GS1 UK's Chief Executive, Gary Lynch said, "The feedback from hospital doctors is that patient care would improve and medical staff would be able to work more efficiently with greater access and sharing of information electronically. This could include using GS1 bar codes and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags to identify medicines, medical devices and other assets."

Use more technology
The joint survey asked doctors what technological innovations would help them perform their roles more effectively. The top 3 suggestions were all related to information sharing.

Being able to view real-time stock levels of medical supplies and medicine
Getting access to real-time electronic patient records
Using bar coded wristbands to accurately identify patients and provide essential care records

When electronic patient records are integrated with other electronic systems such as patient verification and drug trolleys that use GS1 standards, both nurses and doctors will have access to secure, accurate and up-to-date patient information at all times.

Mike Broad, editor of HospitalDr.co.uk, commented: "It's clear from this survey that technology has an important role to play in improving efficiency and patient care. But it's astonishing that we still cannot provide our clinicians with the real-time electronic patient data they need to manage patients expediently."

NHS hospitals such as Great Ormond Street and Leeds Teaching Hospitals are already using GS1 bar coding and RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) technology for activities such as stock control, positive patient identification and asset tracking.

Improve communication and scrap targets
The doctors were also asked about other issues that affected the quality of patient care. Nearly 80% felt that miscommunication during multiple shift handovers was causing difficulties. 54% felt that the removal of the 48 hour week working time restrictions on doctors would help and 69% felt that better structured handovers and smoother transitions would also improve care. Nursing shortages, a target driven culture and inadequately trained staff were also identified as issues.

The editor of HospitalDr.co.uk added, "Investment in appropriate technology and removal of worst policy excesses would be a significant step towards the new government's stated aim of freeing up the NHS to deliver better results."

GS1 UK Healthcare Report
GS1 UK has published a new Healthcare Report based on the findings from this research and the latest survey of nurses. It highlights their opinions about improving ward efficiency and patient safety as well as the role of technology in the NHS. The report reveals that there is a very close link between the views of doctors and their colleagues in the nursing profession. There is a lot of scope for tackling inefficiency and improving patient care in the NHS by using technologies based on GS1 standards.

About the Author

Robert is a Content Executive for a supply chain data standards organisation called GS1 UK.

Midnight Minnal Trailer III