A robot frees up time in the Nordland hospitals – and helps with Medanets integration, too
The Nordland hospital group (Nordlandssykehuset) implements a robot called Nora Nord to take care of simple but time-consuming administrative tasks. In addition, Nora helps to integrate the Medanets app with multiple hospital information systems (HIS), so that the data flows in a structured format between the systems. Head of Department in the Unit for Clinical IT, Jostein Stemland, talked about Nora within his presentation at the Medanets User Days in February 2024.
“Nora is a software robot that has the ability to copy human work processes carried out on a PC. The technology behind the robot is RPA, Robotic Process Automation. The robot can work in all the same applications, websites, and databases as human employees, using its own user login. However, Nora cannot think for herself – she only does what she is programmed to do”, explains Stemland.
Nora Nord. Picture: Nordlandssykehuset
Repetitive tasks have been given to the robot
For instance, Nora is used to settle outpatient appointments. An example highlights how the robot sent out questionnaires to patients to find out the need for further control and treatment and processed the responses. 70 % of the patients answered that their condition was under control and that the appointment could be postponed. This, of course, saved both unnecessary travel and checks for the patient, and the resources of the hospital.1
Moreover, Nora checks and sends out discharge summaries to patients – some 270,000 a year. Before, the discharge summaries were sent up to three months after the appointment. Now, the robot sends them out in a matter of minutes.1,2
The robot stitches together systems that need to work together
Nora helps to stitch together systems that do not talk to each other, too, by logging in to different systems, retrieving and transferring the needed data3. For instance, Medanets generates FHIR documents for the robot, which the robot then exports to the patients’ medical records. Nora is the first robotic-based integration platform Medanets supports. In the absence of interfaces, a robotic solution is one option to solve the integration and get the information delivered to EHR in a structured format.
In total, the Nordland hospital group things they can save more than 20 full-time equivalents during 2024 – no wonder that the use of the robot has won high-level praise for saving time on administrative tasks and contributing to better patient care1. “We still need every employee we can get – the ones we’ve got, and the ones we don’t have yet, so we are not laying off anyone. Instead, the employees can now concentrate on more meaningful tasks”, Stemland says.
Sources:
1. Nordlandssykehuset: Digitaliseringsminister Karianne Tung imponert over Nora Nord og Linken e-helselab. Accessed 14.5.2024.
2. NRK 2.10.2024: Denne “kvinnen” sparer sykehuset for mange stillinger. Accessed 14.5.2024.
3. Avisa Nordland 31.12.2022: Ingen jobber så raskt som Nora Nord. Accessed 14.5.2024.
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