Together with Medanets, the Nordland hospital group (Nordlandssykehuset) in the north of Norway has brought triage into the mobile solution. Jostein Kristoffer Stemland, a Clinical ICT advisor and nurse specialising in children and oncology, presented their triage process at the Medanets User Days in February.
In the fast-paced environment of emergency departments, efficient patient management is crucial. It is also important that information from the emergency department is transferred to the patient’s next point of care, so that treatment can continue where it left off. Nordlandssykehuset has seen the need to use digital and mobile tools to enhance efficiency and patient safety.
From paper to digital triage
The TRIAGE system is designed to streamline patient registration and management in emergency departments. Previously, the TRIAGE was part of an extensive and detailed paper chart, which the emergency department relied on. One of the problems was the poor availability of the data; the paper chart can only be in one place at a time.
Elsewhere in the hospital, the staff was used to data, such as Early Warning Scores, documented on the mobile solution always being available across the hospital. Therefore, the decision was made to bring also triage to the Medanets mobile solution.
“We wanted to bring triage into Medanets for a long time, but for various reasons, the ball didn’t start rolling until autumn 2024. As usual, when it’s a Medanets ball, it rolls fast and within no time the Medanets team had created a first draft for us”, Jostein Kristoffer Stemland says.
The triage model used in Nordlandssykehuset is based on the RETTS (Rapid Emergency Triage and Treatment System) model, with some local adjustments. For a more comprehensive picture of the patient’s condition, the process also includes Glasgow Coma Scale, qSofa for sepsis screening and pain assessment. To ensure a smooth process, all these assessments are bundled in Medanets, so that they are presented to the user one after another. In addition, Medanets Checklists are used in the emergency department to complete the documentation.
Robotic process automation (the Nora Nord robot) takes care of transferring the data between the different systems in the hospital, so that triage, EWS and other scores are always available everywhere.
Many benefits expected
The new mobile workflows are expected to support emergency department work:
- The arrival condition of patients can be assessed more efficiently, allowing for quicker identification of critical cases and timely intervention.
- Patients can be directed to the next point of care more quickly, reducing wait times and improving overall patient flow.
- Patient information during the emergency visit is immediately available to other healthcare professionals involved in the treatment, ensuring seamless and coordinated care.
Despite these key efficiency improvements made in the emergency department, the work in Nordlandssykehuset will continue to achieve a fully digitalised hospital with optimised mobile workflows.