09/09/2021 | News

Capture the data once, use it in many ways

Recently our colleagues in the UK were interviewed by Health Tech Newspaper (HTN) for their feature on how accurate data capture can enhance interoperability within hospitals.

Nick Roots, Prospitalia h-trak’s Business Development Manager, explained how using a handheld scanner and barcode technology, clinical teams capture data on consumables and devices, staff, procedure codes and key timers in surgical settings – and use this rich information for a range of processes: stock management and replenishment; procedure costing, resource planning and patient safety, by ‘tracking and tracing’ clinical implants at patient level.

“Our key message is ‘capture the data once and use it in many ways’,” says Nick, and reiterates that this very idea is “at the heart of interoperability”.

“You can’t be interoperable if you haven’t got the data in the first instance. Our h-trak data can be fed into a hospital’s existing procurement, procedure costing (Patient level costing system), theatre management and electronic patient record (EPR) systems. When people talk about interoperability, nobody wants to get down to the nitty gritty of data, but this is the key to it all; never underestimate the need to get data right or how much effort is involved with it. Once you’ve achieved a high level of accuracy, the information is very powerful.”

By collecting all this data, h-trak illustrates that everything within the health setting can be connected – be it finance, operational resourcing, clinical or procurement – and that organisations can utilise the same data to provide themselves with an overview to potentially boost efficiency across a range of clinical settings.

Hospitals do not have to install any big IT infrastructure either, as h-trak system is offered as ‘software as a service’ (SaaS). It works over the web thus avoiding any often-complex IT interface issues.

Contact us to find out how we can support your hospital.