Developing new functionality in EKORA® to support our customers’ needs.
Whilst EKORA® comes with eight core modules as standard, we work closely with all our customers to help support their ways of working and new initiatives.
One example of this is the new Ambulatory & Assessment Area (A&AA) at Perth Royal Infirmary that uses EKORA® for its scheduling, appointments and patient care information
We discussed with Dr Mudher Al-Khairalla, Consultant in Respiratory and Internal Medicine at NHS Tayside, and the lead clinician involved in setting up the A&AA service at PRI, just how EKORA® has helped support this new service at PRI and helped to drive even greater efficiencies
What is the Ambulatory & Assessment Area at Perth Royal Infirmary
The Ambulatory & Assessment Area at PRI is actually two services in one.
The ‘Ambulatory’ part of it is when a patient no longer needs to stay in hospital and can sleep in their own bed but return to the hospital to access treatment during the day. They are booked into the A&AA to receive that treatment.
The ‘Assessment’ side of it enables patients to be assessed quickly and efficiently to see whether they need a hospital bed or can be offered the Ambulatory service instead.
What does it help with?
The A&AA has many benefits. In particular, it supports flow and capacity through the hospital when beds are stretched, helping us to plan bed requirements better and turn over patients quicker. It also supports the continuous development of expertise of our advanced nurse practitioners, but it also greatly supports the patient as it provides convenience for the patient who may not want to be in hospital for many reasons such as risk of hospital acquired infections, impact on sleep hygiene, childcare challenges etc
What is the role of EKORA®
EKORA® is a big part of being able to run the system effectively and smartly. It has enabled us to create a virtual platform where patients can be placed on an A&AA list but it also provides an in-built appointment system for both sides of the department, Ambulatory and Assessment. Those who have been assessed and can sleep at home, returning the next day for further treatment, can be booked in and given appointment times for their return.Those that need to be admitted are allocated a bed, and transferring their initial workup session entry is seamless
What are the benefits of using EKORA®?
It has supported the roll out of the A&AA as it helps with the control of patient flow, records real time and historical patient data, avoids repetitive inputting of data and also links with other systems and platforms so that we can see all patient information in one platform
Without EKORA® we would have to have run multiple systems and would have the added complication and difficulty to front line staff who would have to rely heavily on hospital admin staff. With EKORA® appointments can be booked by any member of staff immediately with full visibility of available appointments making it easy for staff and convenient for patients.
The development of this bespoke virtual ward and appointment systems only took the EKORA® team one week from brief to completion.
What is next for A&AA at PRI?
We are working on expanding the service and time slots available. EKORA® will play a big part in this as it makes the booking and administrative side of running the A&AA so straightforward by helping us understand our capacity and plan better for who we are seeing each day. EKORA® also provides rich data analytics to help us develop the service further and make improvements.