Category Archives: Healthcare Tech

Vivanti Unveils COSMART AVA at the 14th Annual Sales Force Effectiveness and Digital Marketing in Pharma Summit

Berlin, 16th October 2024

A leading digital agency is launching its cutting-edge AI-powered training simulator, COSMART AVA, at the 14th Annual Sales Force Effectiveness and Digital Marketing in Pharma Summit in Berlin. COSMART AVA is designed to address a major challenge in the pharmaceutical industry: enhancing the effectiveness of medical representatives (MRs) in a highly competitive and regulated environment.

Medical representatives face challenges such as delivering complex medical information and overcoming objections during brief interactions with busy healthcare professionals (HCPs). These challenges can significantly affect sales performance and revenue.

AVA: The AI-Powered Solution for Commercial Excellence
COSMART AVA is part of Vivanti’s COSMART suite, a collection of AI-driven tools designed to drive commercial excellence.

AVA equips medical representatives with essential skills, including the ability to communicate critical product knowledge, handle objections, and deliver key messages effectively during their limited time with healthcare professionals. Using COSMART AVA, MRs will be better prepared to engage HCPs, build stronger relationships, and ultimately, drive improved sales performance.

Benefits for Commercial Excellence Managers:

  • Pharma-Driven Training Library: Ensures simulations aligns with the company’s protocols and product knowledge, leading to more consistent messaging and strategy execution across the team.
  • Customisable Training Scenarios: Managers can tailor scenarios to target specific training needs, as well as levels of difficulty – ensuring that the simulation is relevant and effective for their team’s development.
  • Product Portfolio Management: Allows managers to keep field force materials up-to-date with the latest product information, ensuring MRs are always prepared with accurate details.
  • Performance Transparency: AVA’s robust analytics provide Commercial Excellence Managers with real-time insights into MR performance, enabling data-driven decisions to enhance training and field effectiveness.

Benefits for Medical Representatives (MRs):

  • Dynamic Interaction: AVA’s ability to adjust its behaviour based on MR performance creates an engaging, real-world training environment that enhances learning.
  • Customisable Scenarios: Tailored training scenarios allow MRs to practice in situations that are directly relevant to their specific field, making the training highly applicable and effective.
  • Emotional Intelligence Training: Developing emotional intelligence helps MRs improve their interactions with healthcare professionals, leading to more successful engagements.
  • Impactful Communication Feedback: Immediate, actionable feedback on communication techniques empowers MRs to refine their approach and improve their persuasive skills.

Impactful Results from Pilot

Vivanti’s pilot of COSMART AVA has yielded impressive results including:

  • Memorisation of Visit Scenarios: MRs demonstrated a 58% improvement in their ability to remember details of their visit scenarios.
  • Enhanced Product Knowledge: There was a 60% increase in MRs’ product knowledge, ensuring they are well-prepared to discuss and promote their products effectively.
  • Improved Communication Skills: MRs experienced a 65% improvement in communication skills, enabling them to engage more persuasively and confidently with HCPs.

Market Debut and Welcoming Early Adopters

COSMART AVA will be debuted at the 14th Annual Sales Force Effectiveness and Digital Marketing in Pharma Summit in Berlin on 16th October 2024 – where the team will be showcasing the solution to industry leaders.

Vivanti is welcoming early adopters who wish to elevate their medical representatives’ training programmes. This opportunity allows industry leaders to integrate cutting-edge technology into their training programmes and set a new standard in MR preparedness within the COSMART framework.

Marina Hickson, Managing Director of Vivanti comments, ” As healthcare evolves, clear communication of complex medical information is more vital than ever. AVA, integrated with our COSMART suite, revolutionizes medical sales training by fostering meaningful interactions. It equips reps with both product knowledge and emotional intelligence to build insightful connections with healthcare professionals, leading to better outcomes. With AVA, we’re not just upgrading a tool – we’re transforming reps into trusted partners in healthcare, shaping the future of patient care.”

Vivanti has a speaker platform at the 14th Annual Sales Force Effectiveness and Digital Marketing in Pharma Summit, Berlin, at 10.10am on 16th October 2024. The team will unveil COSMART AVA and illustrate how this invaluable tool enhances sales force effectiveness and maximises training ROI through impactful healthcare interactions. Vivanti looks forward to introducing pharmaceutical colleagues to the advantages of COSMART AVA.

For more information please visit our website – https://vivanti.eu/, email – info@vivanti.eu or call +44 (0) 7471 179-024.

ENDS

For more information on Vivanti or to interview Managing Director, Marina Hickson or meet the team at the conference, please contact Caroline Beswick or Kathryn Hughes at Trinity PR on 0770 948 7960 or email caroline.beswick@trinitypr.co.uk.

About Vivanti
Vivanti is a leading provider of AI-powered commercial tools designed to improve pharmaceutical sales performance. Through its COSMART suite, Vivanti empowers medical representatives and their companies to achieve commercial excellence by optimizing training, customer engagement, and sales force effectiveness.

Offering innovative marketing and efficiency solutions, Vivanti’s integrated approach helps pharmaceutical, biotech, and healthcare organisations achieve tailored outcomes by enhancing engagement, streamlining operations, and elevating industry standards. With in-house proficiency in medical science, digital and AI innovations, and regulatory insights, Vivanti ensures that scientific excellence is effectively communicated and aligned with business objectives, driving impactful results.

Citations:

[1] https://intellek.io/blog/knowledge-retention/

[2] https://www.bizlibrary.com/blog/learning-methods/learning-retention-key-employee-training/

[3] https://www.educate-me.co/blog/knowledge-retention-strategies

[4] https://www.getbridge.com/blog/learning-analytics/10-stats-about-learning-retention-youll-want-forget/

[5] https://knowledgeanywhere.com/articles/seventy-percent-of-your-training-is-forgotten-learn-the-science-of-knowledge-retention-and-how-it-affects-online-training/

[6] https://trainingindustry.com/articles/strategy-alignment-and-planning/4-methods-for-boosting-post-training-knowledge-retention/

[7] https://www.indegene.com/what-we-think/reports/understanding-science-behind-learning-retention

[8] https://blog.hettshow.co.uk/research-reveals-clinicians-spend-a-third-of-working-hours-on-clinical-documentation

 

Envision Pharma Group launches EnvisionOne Insights: A unified data and analytics solution for medical affairs

Leading global technology solutions partner, Envision Pharma Group, has launched its new data and analytics management solution, EnvisionOne Insights, to harness the full power of big data in medical affairs technology. This innovation represents a foundational shift in how clients can access and optimize their data using Envision’s suite of technology products.
The solution channels complex data into one unified repository, enabling smooth and efficient data movement across Envision’s technology, including iEnvision® and the emerging EnvisionOne platform.
EnvisionOne Insights is the first solution launched on the EnvisionOne platform, a next-generation SaaS framework that will transform the way life sciences companies manage and maximize data. A soon-to-market module will include predictive analytics, machine learning, and other advanced AI capabilities, providing an end-to-end solution for the entire product journey. These enhancements are expected to be available late 2024.
The consolidated data, along with human agency, provide powerful insights to medical affairs professionals resulting in:
  • Simplified and secure access to structured data sets in one platform
  • Powerful data visualization and reporting capabilities, including Power BI, APIs, and access to customizable templates to derive actionable insights
  • Optimized and centralized data management processes
  • Real-time data integration for informed, accessible reporting and dashboards
  • Impactful findings enabled via a crucial conduit that feeds use cases through AI and predictive analytics (expected late 2024)
EnvisionOne Insights also draws on over 20 years of historical intelligence to reveal real-time insights into emerging trends, turning past data into future success.
EnvisionOne Insights directly addresses the industry’s long-time need to standardize and connect data. In this first-to-market tool—available at no extra cost to existing customers—Envision has developed technology and functionalities that eliminate manual processes and increase efficiencies for evidence-based decision-making to positively affect patient outcomes.
Jim Streeter, President of Technology, Chief Technology Officer from Envision Pharma Group said, “Our strategy is based on the convergence of data and insights to help clients make faster, smarter decisions. EnvisionOne Insights draws on many layers of data in our legacy system, providing a whole new level of insights to clients by improving the accessibility of data in a single unified model.
“This offers a new data paradigm, enabling us to work with data in our system we haven’t previously had access to, creating new intelligence capabilities and analytics expertise. Envision is now offering not just a technology, but a whole new level of insights to power up medical affairs analysis.”
For more information, visit our website.
From the makers of the industry-leading medical affairs software comes EnvisionOne, a transformative data platform for the future of medical affairs.

North Wales firm CryoClinix moves into photobiomodulation

North Wales firm CryoClinix has announced its worst kept secret, that being its aggressive European move into photobiomodulation, more commonly called Red Light Therapy.

After attending the PBM 2024 in London recently, David Morris announced at the conference that CryoClinix, after engaging with a number of medical representatives from major football clubs in the UK, Europe and also the Saudi Pro League, that commercial strength Red Light Therapy is now available to their client base in Europe to purchase. The client base already taking pre-orders include football clubs, players, spas and wellness centres.

David Morris, Chief Revenue Officer of CryoClinix said “after talking to some of the world’s leading exponents of photobiomodulation, it was clearly evident that from the countless doctors and professors with whom we talked to, that red light therapy would accelerate rehabilitation via the company’s own devices given their strength. As a consequence, CryoClinix has announced its sales channel expansion from the US into Europe, focussing predominantly on the sports and spa sectors.”

Red light therapy from CryoClinix can be applied by one of two methods, firstly by a simple 15 minute treatment inside a pod, or for those persons that wish to use the modality when travelling, a full body pad is used. Morris continues “quite simply no other company offers the quality or the complimentary product range that we do. We are certainly not the first to market in Europe. We have observed the market increase over the last 3 quarters, and firmly believe that our products are the most powerful, providing the best photobiomodulation treatment for the patient.

Already our pods are used extensively in the US, relied upon by a number of teams from the NFL, NBA and countless clinics. Our products are powerful using commercial LED lights so we actively encourage the European market to aggressively compare our specifications to what’s currently available and ask some key questions around competitor technology.” Clients in Europe that are using photobiomodulation include spas, recovery centres and domestic residences – predominantly high net worth individuals, all of which see value in the technology to improve their energy levels, sleep and general all round wellness.

“Because the treatments are whole body, it affects over 30 trillion blood cells via the strength of our 17,000 commercial strength LED lights (yes 17,000) which are located the closest to the skin within the industry for maximum penetration. Our lights omit 630 and 660 nanometers (nm) and 850nm near infrared beams, resulting in a very impressive 100 mW/cm^2 rating.” Red Light Therapy is frequently used to boost the body’s mitochondria – often referred to as the powerhouses of the cell. Mitochondrias main function is to generate the energy necessary to power nearly all types of cells in the body. They are vital to our survival, generating the majority of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which basically is the energy currency of the human cells.

Morris continues “It’s the power of the LED’s and their capability to penetrate the skin which is vital to obtain the highest form of mitochondria, all achieved during a very relaxing 15 minute treatment. It is key that the different wavelengths of light penetrate the skin from the closest distance possible. This is something that is simply not possible by some other manufacturers, many of whom use unbelievably converted sun bed frames as a basis to build up from. All our machines are made from scratch in the US for what is rapidly becoming a global marketplace.

For more information about CryoClinix Red Light Therapy or Cryotherapy Chambers, please contact David Morris davidm@cryoclinix.com

CryoClinix launches coldest 1 person chamber in the world for Spas

North Wales based CryoClinix has launched its new, one person electric cryotherapy chamber specifically for spas, cooling down to a record breaking -100 degrees C.

David Morris of CryoClinix said ‘other 1 person cryo chambers on the market only cool allegedly to -85 degrees C, which has little or no impact on the person receiving the treatment according to the wealth of independent medical research. Our 1 person chamber is unique, cooling down to an astonishing -100 degrees C, allowing the patient to experience all the positive physiological benefits that genuine cryotherapy brings’.

For the spa market, cryotherapy offers so much from anti ageing, weight loss, collagen boost to name a few, but also wellness benefits such as improved sleep, mobility, pain relief etc.

The 1 person chamber itself is really small in size, measuring only 1.7m wide and 1.1m deep. Amazingly it can be operated all day at a cost of only £25 in electricity, but unlike others can be operated continuously without having to turn it off for the machine to rest. The ability to have the CryoClinix chamber operating up to 14 hours a day maximises the spas opportunity for increased revenue growth. For the client themselves, they simply embrace the cold after selecting their own music from the built-in Alexa system.

David Morris continues ‘It’s so important that the chamber is cold enough to deliver the correct temperature for cryotherapy treatments. This temperature, along with the chambers look, size and low operational cost is a game changer for the spa industry, but also the cryotherapy engineering
sector too, given the proprietary advances in the technology used.’

The computerised operator software is the same as used in elite sports teams and facilities around the world, allowing automated on/off scheduling, and also ‘self cleaning’ of the system, freeing up the staffs time, all while being connected to the engineers 24/7 for constant monitoring of the chamber. With a purchase price of £75,000 in the UK, which includes installation and delivery, little wonder CryoClinix are confident that existing pre order interest from the USA, Europe and Middle East will be mirrored here in the UK.

For more information, please contact David Morris at CryoClinix davidm@cryoclinix.com

AlphaBiolabs first in the UK to offer blood sample self-collection device for baby gender testing

Cheshire testing laboratory, AlphaBiolabs, is the first in the UK to offer at-home blood sample self-collection for baby gender testing, using the innovative, fuss-free TinyTAP device.

The device, which has never been made available to UK consumers before, makes it possible for expectant parents to collect their own blood sample at home and return it to the laboratory for the purpose of baby gender testing, with no medical appointments required.

Unlike other laboratories that require a venous blood draw, AlphaBiolabs’ easy-to-use, pain-free TinyTAP device is simply pressed against the mother’s upper arm to collect a small blood sample.

The sample can then be returned to the company’s accredited UK laboratory to determine whether the baby is a boy or a girl from as early as 6 weeks into pregnancy, with 99% accuracy.

Rachel Davenport, Director at AlphaBiolabs, said: “As the UK’s most-trusted DNA laboratory with over 20 years’ experience providing DNA testing services, we are proud to be the first to offer the convenience of the TinyTAP device for expectant parents looking to find out the sex of their baby.

“We are at the forefront of innovation in our industry, and the benefits of this device are numerous. From removing the need for time-consuming medical appointments, to enabling expectant parents to collect their own sample in the privacy of their home, entirely pain-free, with zero fuss.”

How does baby gender testing work?

When the mother is around 6 weeks pregnant, small amounts of the baby’s DNA begin circulating in the mother’s blood stream, meaning highly sensitive DNA testing methods can then be used to screen the mother’s blood sample for the presence of a Y chromosome.

As the Y chromosome is only present in males, its presence in the mother’s blood indicates that the baby is a boy. If no Y chromosome is detected, this indicates that the baby is a girl.

The At-home Baby Gender Test from AlphaBiolabs is available for just £89 and can determine a baby’s gender from as early as 6 weeks into pregnancy, with 99% accuracy.

 

 


Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Warrington, Cheshire, AlphaBiolabs is a leading, award-winning, and accredited provider of DNA, drug, alcohol, and health testing services in the UK.

The company employs state-of-the-art techniques to provide timely, accurate, and cost-efficient laboratory testing to meet a range of needs. Its client base spans consumers, family law and immigration solicitors, social services, local authorities, businesses of all sizes across all sectors, and the media.

The company also operates a UK-wide network of walk-in centres, providing a flexible solution for sample collection appointments for members of the public, legal and workplace customers requiring laboratory testing services.

West Suffolk Hospital Cuts Waiting List With New Technology Integration

DrDoctor’s new partnership with MBI Health sees integration of DrDoctor’s Quick Question tool applied to support trusts with hospital waitlist validation

DrDoctor, the UK’s leading patient engagement platform (PEP) supplier, has today announced a new integration partnership with MBI Health (MBI), the UK’s leading organisation for elective care automation and performance improvement.

The integration partnership, which combines DrDoctor’s Quick Question tool, with MBI’s waitlist validation capabilities, will work together to better manage patient flow and ensure timely, efficient care for patients.

According to West Suffolk Hospital, the integration partnership has already aided in bringing down wait times. Over 10% of patients contacted were removed with the vast majority of removals who had waited less than 40 weeks. This comes as a result of the integration of DrDoctor’s Quick Question tool into MBI’s waitlist validation tool- which now enables teams to send out practical questions to patients in less than five minutes and get rapid responses – to identify whether patients need to be on the waitlist for an appointment. MBI’s AI-backed tool then automatically sorts the Quick Question patient responses, accurately adjusting where there are patients safe to remove without any manual attention.

The tool will support trusts, like West Suffolk Hospital, in improving the patient experience and generating renewed efficiencies. With no login required, the Quick Question tool sees 90% of responses within the first 48 hours, supporting trusts patient engagement digital strategies.

Beyond waitlist reduction, the collaboration also validates patient information instantly, which not only saves administrative burden, but frees up capacity for medical staff. This frees up time previously being spent on laborious and manual waitlist validation work.

Hannah Knights, Head of Operations of Elective Care at West Suffolk Hospital said: “Our operational teams are under immense pressure to support clinical staff while managing the long waits. Our now automated waitlist validation tool allows us to reduce the pressure on our non-medical staff while allowing clinical teams to continue providing the best care. Our top priority is seeing  patients that need to be seen – and leveraging these tools is the best way to tackle the long-standing obstacles in our way”.

Founder of MBI, Barry Mulholland commented: “By leveraging our industry leading solution, West Suffolk Hospital has been able to demonstrate its exceptional commitment to delivering the best care and driving increased operational efficiencies and patient safety. Our partnership with DrDoctor will support trusts in equipping patients with the tools they need to effectively engage in their care, whilst supporting trusts in delivering the necessary outcomes”.

Founder and CEO of DrDoctor, Tom Whicher added: “Our collaboration with MBI is at the core of our mission, which is to help solve the immediate pressures facing the NHS. At DrDoctor, we understand that it is only possible to provide trusts with the best experience by collaborating with committed teams working towards the same end goal, like MBI. We’re delighted to report on the work we’re doing with them at West Suffolk Hospital to help prioritise what we know is most important to trusts right now – waitlist reduction. Integrations like this continue to help us in delivering a more hybrid approach to healthcare for patients – ensuring those who need to be seen in person, are prioritised, and those who can get care remotely, are able to do so”.

 

Inizio Targets Health and Safety Improvement for Lone Workers with Applied Driving Partnership

Inizio Engage, the global healthcare partner, has teamed up with Applied Driving to support its clinical team and other lone workers using the Companion+ Mobile Safety App. The company has initially adopted the safer driving and personal safety solution across 65 mobile employees with a wider rollout planned for a further 115 users within its UK and US operations.

“The wellbeing of our team is of utmost importance to the business, so we are committed to identifying and using the latest health and safety innovations,” explains Kate Kelly, Managing Director UK & Ireland of Inizio Engage. “With the adoption of the Companion+ Mobile Safety and it’s personal safety features, we can elevate the welfare of those driving and operating alone by providing the highest levels of assistance, engagement and support.”

Inizio Engage has previously used a lone worker safety device, but it lacked the functionality, usability and affordability of Companion+. The mobile app’s SOS function allows an alarm to be raised with a swipe of the phone, while Triple Tap is a three-tap process – even when a device is in a pocket or bag – to call for help and the check-in timer schedules a check call to confirm safety. In addition, crash detection uses mobile phone sensors, proprietary algorithms and AI to detect when a collision has occurred.

Caroline McGlynn at Inizio Engage commented: “Companion+ will offer our mobile clinical team discreet safety and security, anytime. We have used a pendant alarm before, but these required the user to physically hold the device to activate, which made them difficult to use. The Companion+ app possesses advanced functionality that makes it simple to alert the 24/7 call centre when someone is feeling at-risk or in an emergency.”

 

Companion+ is designed to improve driver behaviour while protecting users in a sphere of safety. The app automatically assesses at-risk driving events and sends Triggered TrainingTM in the form of a safety message, video or e-learning module, tailored specifically to the user’s individual needs. With the introduction of the personal safety features, it now provides added security and peace of mind anytime in any situation.

 

“It is important to enable growth and transformation through our people, our culture, and employee experience.  Safeguarding our people is paramount when implementing services,” adds Kate Kelly.

Digital consultancy acquires healthcare product specialist

Answer Digital has strengthened its healthcare division with the acquisition of Interneuron, a provider of specialist healthcare digital systems.

Leeds-based, Answer is an employee-owned digital consultancy that works extensively across the NHS to support everything from deploying AI at scale to GP interoperability. It also provides private-sector companies with services ranging from data and software engineering to artificial intelligence and cloud computing.

Interneuron provides cutting-edge software to healthcare organisations with its Open Modular Care Record, openMCR, which supports direct patient care in inpatient, outpatient, and virtual care settings.

The acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, will add product expertise to Answer’s 20-year history of enabling digital transformation across industries, including healthcare and finance. The breadth of the partnership between the two parties accelerates growth, and all roles will be retained.

Commenting on the deal, Richard Pugmire, CEO of Answer, said: “Bringing the two teams together will enable Interneuron to expand rapidly, by allowing them to focus on product development, with support for EPR implementation, data and integration services from Answer.

“Answer’s AI toolkit and award-winning AI implementation best practices will enhance Interneuron’s cutting-edge product suite and drive significant growth potential. Answer, perhaps best known for incubating products and start-up ideas, now has a dedicated long-term product unit, which will enable us to deliver innovative, scalable solutions across all sectors.”

Interneuron has partnered with NHS Trusts for over six years to develop, deliver, and support open-source clinical software solutions. These projects empower NHS organisations to replace outdated technology with cutting-edge software, transforming data integration, storage, and utilisation. Interneuron’s open-source philosophy ensures accessibility, allowing NHS Trusts to freely download, test, and implement the software, or opt for support from Interneuron.

Joel Ratnasothy, CEO at Interneuron, said: “We are thrilled to join an employee-owned company that shares a commitment to its values and people. Bringing our teams together will have an incredible impact on our current and future customers. It’s clear that our companies share a passion for reforming healthcare services through digital transformation and the power this can have to drive efficiency and improve outcomes for all stakeholders.

“The openMCR platform is a truly open modular care record that has been designed and built from the ground up to give our customers the most control of their data, at a time when data has become the key to  genuinely achieving healthcare service transformation.”


Pictured: Richard Pugmire.

Answer recently received national recognition for the Artificial Intelligence Project of the Year at the UK IT Industry Awards for its pioneering work in advancing AI, and accelerating the diagnosis of cancer, stroke and other health conditions in the NHS.

For more information visit https://interneuron.com/ and https://answerdigital.com/

ACG Becomes the World’s First Capsule Manufacturing Factory to Join the Global Lighthouse Network Community 2023-24

ACG Capsules Pithampur, India is ACG’s 1st lighthouse to join the community.

ACG, the world’s largest integrated supplier and service provider to the pharmaceutical industry, celebrated the inclusion of its capsule manufacturing facility in Pithampur, India, into the esteemed Global Lighthouse Network (GLN) by the World Economic Forum at the 54th Annual Davos Summit.

The World Economic Forum’s Global Lighthouse Network has acknowledged the exemplary integration of Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies, including artificial intelligence and big data analytics, by select factories globally. These facilities have been distinguished for their commitment to enhancing efficiency, fostering sustainable development, and simultaneously advancing their workforce’s skills and safeguarding the environment.

Upon receiving the award, Mr. Karan Singh, Managing Director, said: “I am delighted to receive this recognition on behalf of my team. For me the most unforgettable part of our journey wasn’t any technology or efficiency milestone, but the incredible team that made it all possible. Just ordinary people, united towards one goal, bringing about innovative collaborations to push boundaries of what is possible.”

He added: “One of the stand-out features of our application was the Gen-AI integration. Something that was done in the less than two weeks. In between all the debate on what Gen-AI can do to humans it is a beautiful reminder that ‘technology is brilliant, but humans drive the change’. Let’s remember that!”

 

ACG operates across 138 countries in six continents and has positioned itself as a leader in the pharmaceutical sector by focusing on high-quality capsule production, increasing responsiveness, improving production yields, and boosting workforce efficiency. The company produces billions of capsules annually and has implemented over 25 innovative applications of 4IR technologies, including the industrial internet of things (IIoT), machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL), digital twins, extended reality, and generative AI.

 

Selwyn Noronha, CEO, ACG Capsules, added: “We are extremely proud of our first factory lighthouse. From its inception the facility has pioneered in its field, but this latest honour recognises the excellence in adopting AI at speed and scale.

“Our continued future-focused approach sets new benchmarks in quality and innovation, with the aim of ensuring maximum benefit for customers, regulators and the entire pharmaceutical ecosystem.”

 

eConsult to Improve Patient Safety, Experience and Efficiency at Kingston Hospital

Digital triage provider, eConsult Health has today announced that it has agreed a new partnership with Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation to integrate its eTriage technology for patient registration and prioritisation in its Emergency Department.

The implementation sets out to strengthen the hospital’s ability to meet its government-set target of initially assessing walk-in patients within 15 minutes.

 

eTriage, is an electronic registration check-in service which uses algorithm-based questions about patient symptoms, to quickly identify, within minutes of arrival, the sickest patients and categorise walk-ins into five different priority categories (P1 – P5). The technology, which facilitates the prioritisation and triage of patients arriving at Kingston’s Emergency Department, will help reduce initial assessment waiting times for the Trust,  enhancing patient safety.

As part of the agreement, eTriage will support existing workflows and be fully integrated through existing Cerner Millennium capabilities. The check-in feature will eliminate the pre-registration queues typically associated with arriving at the Emergency Department. By reducing registration times, and automating triage, Kingston Hospital will be able to increase the proportion of patients seen for initial assessment within a 15-minute wait period, and help shorten the journey to treatment for the sickest patients, whilst assisting in the redirection of lower acuity patients.

The partnership is also aimed to free up clinical time, which will add both logistical and efficiency benefits to the Trust.

 

Dr Mark Harmon, Strategy Director at eConsult comments: “As we head into a tough winter, as if the NHS wasn’t under enough pressure, the strain is about to increase. At eConsult, our big focus is on how we put patient safety at the heart of delivery. And we’re excited about this partnership with Kingston Hospital because it sets out to  protect the quality of patient care. Working closely with Kingston Hospital, we aim to support the clinical and administrative staff that keep the wheels turning each day whilst tackling increased demand. We hope this contract will become another example for how Trusts can keep transforming digitally to improve patient care across the NHS.”

 

eTriage, an electronic registration service that uses algorithm-based questions about symptoms and medical history, quickly identifies the sickest patients and categorises walk-ins. That, coupled with eConsult’s Smart Inbox feature, will increase communication between patients and clinical staff and help accurate and efficient triaging.

Speeding up time-to-assessment has a range of benefits for patients of Kingston Hospital Trust, which includes:

  • Improving patient safety: eTriage ensures that patients requiring urgent medical attention are immediately identified and flagged to nurses within the hospital’s EPR system.
  • Redirecting to UTC earlier: Lower acuity patients will be redirected to Urgent Treatment Centres more quickly and treated sooner.
  • Reducing administrative pain points: With faster triaging, there will be less time spent queuing at reception and registering patients. Patients will have to spend less time waiting for triage.
  • Increasing patients assessed: A greater proportion of patients will be assessed within the 15-minute target, and the initial assessment (triage) will take less time. That way, patients will wait less for pain relief and their journey to diagnosis can be shorter.
  • Freeing up clinical and administrative resources: through time saved during automated check in and triage