Pioneering electronic system streamlines admissions for a win-win outcome
Digital Bed Management Innovation Team
New Territories East Cluster & Hospital Authority Head Office
Last year, the public hospitals' Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments recorded two million attendances. Traditionally, when a patient required admission, his clinical condition and ward arrangements were recorded manually in an admission log book. Ward staff had to frequently visit the A&E to check these logs and call to enquire about bed availability. How complicated can this be? Not to mention considerable number of beds may be under cleansing. On average, staff made about 400 phone calls and travelled 2km daily to coordinate admissions.
To address these inefficiencies, Prince of Wales Hospital (PWH), in collaboration with the Hospital Authority Head Office, pioneered the e-admission system. The system has shortened the A&E-to-ward admission time by nearly 20%. Nowadays, only around 1% of patients have to wait for over four hours for admission. By effectively preventing access blocks, the system has created a win-win situation for both patients and staff.
The Team shares, "the system consolidates real-time updates on A&E patients' clinical status, bed availability, and cleansing progress into a single electronic interface. It automatically prioritises admissions and triggers a red light to alert long-wait cases, enhancing patient safety and service efficiency. Staff can now access all vital information at a glance via computers or mobile devices, reducing phone calls by 80%, and freeing up precious time for patient care."
By integrating data across various hospital systems, the Team achieved over 90% staff satisfaction regarding ease of use. The system can now automatically assign patients in specialties such as paediatrics and oncology to corresponding wards without manual coordination. For continuous improvement, the Team is also exploring the use of artificial intelligence to further automate bed assignments, incorporating risk factors such as infection control.
After successful implementation in PWH, the e-admission system has now been extended across the hospitals in New Territories East Cluster and also Hong Kong Island Cluster. The Team's ultimate goal is to roll it out to all acute hospitals, benefiting more patients and staff in the city.
