How Technology Is Improving Patient Care Behind-the-Scenes

Many people both within the healthcare industry and those looking in from the outside share concerns that technology will take away the human element from patient care, when it could actually make care more humane.

What defines great patient care?

In the world of healthcare, the patient-clinician interaction typically involves a consultation, a surgical procedure, or a bedside visit. However, currently, the quality of these interactions depends on a sophisticated network of digital tools working quietly behind the scenes.

Technology in healthcare can enable patients to have the best possible interactions, ranging from automating various tasks to predicting workflows with the aid of data analytics. Thus, different innovations can help improve patient care and patient outcomes.

The problem: Causes of strain on the US health system

The US healthcare system is under considerable, often systemic stressors that routinely slow the effective delivery of patient care. These stressors often create bottlenecks, drive cost escalation, and contribute to the recent increase in clinician burnout.

Poor coordination of workflows

Fragmented systems lead to significant breakdowns in communication. If a facility doesn’t coordinate patient data or the information is lost within a given department or among incompatible systems, care teams cannot coordinate well, resulting in:

• Delays
• Redundant testing
• Medical errors

The absence of seamless information flow compels clinicians to waste precious time chasing data instead of treating patients, thereby hindering clinical workflow improvement.

Inconsistent staffing coverage

The unpredictability of patient census, further complicated by the ongoing nursing shortage, creates huge staffing imbalances.

When facilities are short-staffed, these situations arise:

• Clinicians feel overworked
• Patient-to-nurse ratios become unsafe
• The risk of error increases

This inconsistency directly threatens patient safety and significantly contributes to staff exhaustion, underscoring the need for flexible nurse and healthcare staffing platforms to better balance demand and supply.

Repetitive manual tasks

Perhaps you have observed this issue in your facility: Administrative processes that could be automated remain manual. Some examples of tasks that fall under this category include:

• Data entry
• Verification of credentials for clinicians
• Scheduling
• Billing

Most of these administrative processes are time-consuming and prone to human error. They can burden nurses and doctors, pulling them away from direct patient care and depleting resources, which in turn lowers job satisfaction.

Delays due to incomplete information

Paper-based or poorly integrated record-keeping can lead clinicians to begin their work with incomplete or outdated patient histories or medication records. In a high-stakes emergency, even a minor delay while searching for missing information can have disastrous results.

All of these operational inefficiencies that cause strain in the health system create major operational bottlenecks for healthcare facilities. This friction can distract clinicians from delivering necessary care.

The real healthcare innovation is solving these administrative and logistical problems.

Behind-the-scenes solutions to the healthcare industry’s problems

Can a facility really improve patient care with technology?

The solutions to the healthcare system’s strain are in applying smart, integrated technology in healthcare that empowers clinicians and streamlines operations. Some great examples facilities could be using include the following.

EHR improvements and IT systems

Electronic health records (EHRs) are part of modern healthcare. In some facilities, older or poorly implemented EHRs force clinicians to spend more time documenting than interacting with patients.

Modern IT systems are all about optimizing workflow and ensuring interoperability:

• Intelligent documentation: Technologies such as natural language processing and voice-to-text integration are relieving the burden of manual data entry. AI is being utilized to ensure that records are complete and accurate, eliminating the need for extensive manual review.
• Clinical decision support: Embedded CDS tools in the EHR provide real-time, evidence-based guidance. This can automatically flag dangerous drug interactions, prompt physicians to perform preventive screenings, or suggest treatment protocols, thereby elevating the quality of care.
• Seamless data exchange: Industry standards and government initiatives continue to drive the tide of interoperability, enabling the secure and instant sharing of a patient’s entire medical record across different healthcare organizations. That means a new physician can instantly access a patient’s history, drastically speeding up diagnosis and treatment.

Remote patient monitoring

Remote patient monitoring and telehealth are revolutionizing the way healthcare works.

Physicians can monitor vital signs and health data outside of a clinical setting. This is especially helpful in managing chronic diseases, focusing on the prevention and treatment of conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart failure.

Most patients with these diseases require periodic check-ups in a clinic or hospital. However, visits are often insufficient to detect subtle declines in their health, leading to emergencies and readmissions.

RPM utilizes devices such as continuous glucose monitors, smart blood pressure cuffs, and wearable sensors to transmit real-time biometric data to the care team.

• Early intervention: If a patient’s vital signs or readings fall outside a safe range, clinicians are immediately alerted before the patient’s condition becomes critical.
• Data-driven adjustments: Continuous data can enable providers to fine-tune treatment plans.
• Patient empowerment: Patients are more engaged in managing their health conditions, leading to better adherence to the care plan and improved long-term outcomes.

Smarter staffing workflows

Perhaps the biggest operational concern for healthcare facilities is the burnout among nurses and clinicians that ultimately leads to turnover and a shortage of clinical staff. The nursing shortage generally inflates costs for healthcare facilities due to higher reliance on travel nurses and mandatory overtime.

Most traditional staffing models are slow and offer little flexibility for the scheduler and the clinician. Schedulers spend a great amount of time calling staff to fill last-minute gaps, which is a very inefficient and administration-heavy task.

Healthcare staffing platforms like Nursa are leveraging technology to inject flexibility and efficiency into workforce management. These shift marketplace platforms connect qualified clinicians directly with facilities that have open, immediate needs.

This model has several key benefits that happen behind the scenes:

• Reduces administrative burden
• Decreases total staffing costs
• Combats clinician burnout

Improvements in cybersecurity

The digitalization of healthcare has made it more vulnerable to cyber threats, as critical systems—and sensitive patient data—become more accessible. A data breach or a ransomware attack can bring a hospital to a complete standstill, directly impacting patient care.

Technology is being deployed to create multiple layers of defense and resilience:

• EHR data encryption
• MFA or requiring two or more verification factors
• Facilities creating downtime prevention and backup systems

Improved staffing workflows translate to better patient care

Most of the time, healthcare innovation leads to results that the public will never see. Great service in healthcare equals fewer issues for patients. Patients simply know that the system works and rarely have any problems. Great services translate into efficient, safer, and higher-quality care environments.

Facilities can incorporate technological solutions to ensure that their goals are met:

• Clinicians feel supported: Facilities will spend less time on administrative tasks thanks to automation; units will have better staff-to-patient ratios, and clinicians can really focus on the patient at the bedside.
• Better workflows: Facilities will have seamless information exchange in place, automated scheduling, and proactive patient monitoring.
• Improved patient outcomes: Diagnoses will be more accurate, and patients will experience fewer medical errors. Patients will enjoy proactive monitoring for chronic conditions.

As you can see, technology can improve patient outcomes by alleviating specific and repetitive tasks and making space for humanity. You can give your clinical teams the freedom to focus on patient care by taking a significant burden from their shoulders. Thus, when a clinician is with a patient, they have the time, the focus, and the complete information to deliver the best care possible.