The future of the patient experience

Patrick Hourtoulle

March 11, 2019

Connectivity is at the heart of the network that connects people and machines to create the future of the patient experience.

The health system is undergoing a major transformation from the development of new information to communication technologies. The hospital of the future makes us fantasize of a time when there will be holographic diagnosis and treatment via a molecular synthesizer at home...

Yes, that's right, we are in the field of science fiction. Seriously, the hospital of the future requires healthcare professionals’ services to be refocused on users. As in most sectors, the hospital of tomorrow is already starting a connected revolution.

Let's take a closer look at the technology that connects patients, health professionals and machines to create the future of the patient experience.

Patient-centered approach

Indeed, the patient-centered approach is based on the relationships between a patient, his or her family and healthcare professionals. These partnerships lead to a care plan, its implementation and its adjustment over time.

The patient agent

The patient of tomorrow is one who becomes their own care pathway agent, informed about their pathology, empowered in their medical care and in collaboration with their care team. How? Via data collected through new connected objects, stored and analyzed (big data) before being shared. The patient will be informed and will participate in their own healthcare decisions while communicating on their habits, tastes and preferences.

Data security

Of course, this collection, storage, analysis and sharing of information are carried out in the strictest confidence, respecting regulations to ensure the security and integrity of personal data.

What does the future need?

In five to 10 years, the following services will be essential:

● A patient medical file that is available on a national hub, centralizing the medical and medication plan for each patient, regardless of the provider, prescriber, pharmacist, specialist, nurse, patient, or care staff. Medical care providers will be able to consult or add information for accurate follow-up of the patient.

● A national patient agenda: Put the patient at the center of coordinated health care. Improve participant coordination and follow-up through a complete visual of their appointments and events associated with the patient’s journey

A complete patient journey

Pre-hospitalization

Web or mobile applications of personalized medicine for prevention and early diagnosis, telemedicine, making appointments online, perioperatively.

Hospitalization

● Optimized reception and admission without waiting

● Navigation services for access and orientation within the hospital

● Emergence of communicating robots offering reception and accompanying services

● Ultra-connected rooms with infotainment systems and hotel-type services

● Certified connected objects (vital signs, geo-localization, smart beds, and more)

Post-hospitalization

Development of post-operative follow-up and treatment monitoring applications, telemedicine, and communication with the healthcare team via collaborative platforms.

In the long term, the patient's commitment to the hospital will remain based on the human relationship, assisted by a digital double allowing concrete implementation of personalized medicine.

The keyword: CONNECTIVITY

● Simplify, secure and optimize inter-professional exchanges

● Optimize information flows and business models to refocus professionals on their core business

● Transmit information to patients and enable them to become agents in their care path

● Implement an effective mesh between patients, professionals, equipment and resources

One of the keys to the adoption and generalization of these technological developments is connectivity, integrated into business processes.

● A network and communication infrastructure that offers:

● Real-time ultra-performance

● Security from the edge to the core

● Wired and wireless connectivity

● And is robust and scalable

● The Alcatel-Lucent Rainbow™ solution, which is an enterprise cloud solution that provides unified communications services to connect people and systems.

The cloud communication offer, certified HDS (European regulation on the hosting of health data), Rainbow covers all the communication and collaboration functions in an innovative way and are mastered by you and your clients:

● Accompany the hospital in its digital transformation: through functions fixed / open mobile communication.

● Secure investments made on the existing communication system by integrating into infrastructure already in place.

● Integrate into business applications: Rainbow For Developers provides all the elements (in client or API form) to integrate its services into business, web and mobile applications.

● Rainbow manages entities and their links: a patient and a caregiver, a machine, a piece of equipment, a robot (chatbot) or an IoT

The goal is to decompartmentalize completely the exchange of different data. Once the entities are connected, you can easily connect the service-creating components with the patient, the care staff, or a data collector. Infrastructures must also enable the management of connected objects (IoT), of which the "explosion" within hospitals is to come.

One day, each one of us will have had or will have the status of "patient". This label is often synonymous with a course that sometimes turns out to be “the obstacle course”.

We have observed an evolution of medicine: Preventive, Predictive, Participatory, Personalized and last but not least “relevant” medicine. The hospital of the future operates a coherent alignment of this journey by placing the patient at the center.

This isn’t Sci-fi anymore. The future begins today for delivering the best care, ensuring the best use of treatments while maintaining the human and ethical aspect of the exchanges between care staff, patients and relatives.

Read the other blogs of the “Hospital of the future” series:

• Technology for health professionals

• Hospital of the Future: Smart and connected

Download the white paper to discover ALE’s complete vision of the Hospital of the Future.

Learn more about Rainbow for Healthcare and Healthcare solutions