Medanets & Eksote

The South Karelia Social and Health Care District (Eksote, Lappeenranta Region) is reforming and developing its processes with mobile solutions.

Eksote began using Medanets point-of-care mobile solutions by introducing the observation values feature and patient wristband solution in 2012. At the time, the units used Windows Mobile PDA devices.

The devices have been replaced since then, the solution has been updated to Android and the patient wristband solution has been expanded. In addition to these, new features have also been introduced.

Central hospital-wide use

Today, the Medanets point-of-care application is used across the South Karelia Central Hospital. The K wing, completed in 2018, has enjoyed the benefits brought by mobile solutions as well.

Browsing and recording patient data through a mobile device reduces walking back and forth between the patient room and the office and spending time on the computer. This is directly proportional to the increasing amount of time spent with the patient. During the first week of phasing in alone, more than 7,500 mobile documentation entries were made in the K Wing, which means time savings of more than two hours per ward daily.

Detecting the patient’s deteriorating condition in time

The mobile connection together with the Electronic Health Record and the time savings this brings allow the patient’s condition to be monitored with increasing meticulousness. Through the Medanets solution, the observation values measured from the patient can additionally be given an automated risk score, which helps to identify patients whose condition is acutely deteriorating. This is important especially when the patient’s deteriorating condition is not visible otherwise.

The total score indicating the patient’s risk category corresponds with clinical measures, such as alerting the medical team, which are determined by the hospital and proposed to the caretaker via the mobile solution.

After rapid detection, the treatment needed by the patient can be started immediately.

Introducing modern mobile tools

In early 2017, the devices in the units using the mobile solutions were replaced with Samsung smart phones. At that time, the solution’s updated Android version was introduced to these units as well. In this new version, technology and user friendliness have developed considerably over the last few years. According to the feedback we have received from the units, the new version is well liked.

In autumn 2017 , the Medanets solution was introduced with Ascom Myco 2 terminal devices at the new Eksote Intermediate Care premises. From then on, nursing alerts as well as observation value and patient data browsing and recording will be processed through the same device. Nursing is also being streamlined through Medanets patient monitoring feature, obtained for intermediate care, whereby the data from the unit’s Philips monitors can be transferred directly by the nurse’s acknowledgement into the Electronic Health Record.

Identifying patients electronically

As for the patient wristband solution, this has expanded at Eksote to cover most of the inpatient wards at the central hospital and the residential homes in the surrounding municipalities. The solution is also being utilised in conjunction with mobile patient data browsing and recording by identifying the patient electronically. This ascertains that the observation or measurement ends up in the right patient’s journal.