Page 11 - Berita Sunway - Issue 71

Features

William Chau, group
director of Information Dr Ang Kong Hui,
and Communications chief operating officer
Technology (ICT) at of Clinical Services at
Sunway Medical Centre Sunway Healthcare

IMPROVED HEALTHCARE DELIVERY FUTURE OF DIGITAL HEALTHCARE
AND OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY
Most healthcare providers are behind in the
Sunway Medical Centre launched tele-consultations adoption of new technologies and digitisation of
in response to patients who sought healthcare their hospital operations.
services that did not require them to physically visit
hospitals. Patients can consult their doctors, speech “However, with the advancement of digital
therapists, audiologists, rehabilitation team and technologies, healthcare providers must embrace
dietitians without needing to be physically present at the impending change through a holistic digital
the hospital. To date, the hospital has conducted strategy and transformation. I believe that the
more than 1,000 tele-consultation sessions future of digital healthcare lies in developing a
since March last year. group-wide, integrated, and orchestrated data and
analytics capability using analytics and AI/ML to
The hospital also launched the Telemedicine enable a data-driven healthcare operations and
Command Centre for new patients who may require strategy,” said Chau.
a second opinion on medical-related issues, providing
first-level advisory services to patients remotely. Moving forward, Sunway Medical Centre plans
Internet of Things (IoT) – the network of connecting to expand the accessibility of healthcare services
devices to one another via the Internet to allow data through channel diversification using
sharing and analysis – is used to monitor patients’ digital innovation and partnerships. Among the
clinical and vital signs remotely. Data collected plans include expanding Sunway Medical
can also be used in early warning algorithm to Centre’s home nursing and medication services,
predict possible adverse events before they occur, ‘SunMed @ Home’, as well as partnering with
said Sunway Medical Centre group director of other healthcare providers to equip general
Information and Communications Technology practitioners with advanced ECG diagnosis
(ICT), William Chau. capabilities to allow early detection heart-related
conditions.
The first tele-monitoring service for diabetic
patients was launched this year, enabling caregivers “As digital and mobile technologies become part
to measure patients’ blood glucose remotely to of people’s lifestyle, Sunway Medical Centre is
provide coaching of lifestyle changes. continuously looking into providing high quality
healthcare services in a convenient and secured
Another example is Chemocare, an app that is manner. The SunMed GO mobile application
being developed by Monash University Malaysia allows patients to search for doctors, schedule
in consultation with Ministry of Health Malaysia appointments online and consult with specialists
and oncologists at Sunway Medical Centre, which through tele-consultation. We plan to enhance the
aims to help cancer patients monitor and report mobile application further to provide new types of
chemotherapy side-effects to know when they need services including online payment capabilities and
to see a clinician. access to medical reports,” said Ang.
For greater operational efficiency, Sunway Medical “The future of healthcare will be shaped by
Centre is looking into implementing a new Electronic continuous advancement in digital technologies,
Medical Record system to digitise patients’ records proliferation of internet and mobile devices, and
for improved patient care and to reduce the need for wider acceptance of digital services. These factors
manual intervention of records, said Chau. will lead to an increase in the demand for more
effective treatment, increased accessibility, and
Among the initiatives that facilitated informed improved experience. The shift in consumer
decision-making and helped to improve overall demand, increased competition from existing
hospital operations and efficiency this year include healthcare providers, and the entrance of new
operations tracking and report, as well as tele- digital players in the healthcare space will not only
consultation. intensify competition, but also disrupt the current
industry landscape. Hospitals are forced to respond
“Our new real-time hospital operations tracking through innovation and adaptation, or risk being
system allowed us to reduce turnaround time for left behind,” said Chau.
room cleaning to 1 hour, reducing discharge time by
55%. The use of automated medication dispensing
machines have also reduced turnaround time for
medication supply to wards by 45%,” Chau said.
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