Digital Transformation within Healthcare: Closing the Engagement Gap

• To improve communications between eHealth Queensland and the hospital districts knows as the Hospital and Health Services (HHSs) with an opportunity to both educate the HHSs on eHealth Queensland services but also to listen to their feedback on issues and initiatives.

• Allow rural and regional healthcare staff to gain a first-hand understanding of innovation from the ICT Industry and co-create new digital healthcare delivery solutions.

• Support Queensland Health’s digital future.

The initial ICT Roadshow trialled in Rockhampton was a collaborative partnership between industry, customers and our business to improve digital literacy and advocacy with those that we traditionally would not get an opportunity to engage with. Feedback from health staff was overwhelmingly positive with many appreciative of the opportunity to engage directly with technology and service providers in a hometown setting.

Making digital solutions come to life

The challenge of traditional Technology Expos is that many showcases tend to be vendor-specific and represent only a proportion of a clinical workflow or a patient journey rather than an integrated episode of care. As part of our regional ICT Roadshows and our main eHealth Expo event, we have developed a customer experience immersion center targeting the key challenges hospitals face on a day-to-day basis. This includes aspects which can be addressed by the integration of new and existing digital solutions.

At the eHealth Expo earlier this year, we showcased a patient falls prevention system. The scenario involved a patient with a high risk of falls, lowering the bed rail on a smart bed. Alerts were then sent to different technologies including smartphones, badges, software, digital screens with the bed then issuing verbal instructions. In addition, caregivers could also speak remotely to the patient to minimize the risk of falling. This type of scenario showcased the benefit of technology in comparison to traditional patient rooms which have no visibility or notification system once health staff leaves the room.

Our second concept was in relation to asset and people tracking. People and equipment can be tracked in real-time to improve visibility, safety, efficiency, and patient outcomes. Digital touch screens make it easy to search and retrieve information quickly whilst integration with staff communications such as telephones and voice‑activated devices enable effective communications. Alerts can be generated when assets like a portable ultrasound are moved within the hospital. This tracking system results in improved workflows and efficiency in clinical delivery, as clinicians can focus on treatment instead of finding equipment.

Both demonstrations at our eHealth Expo took some weeks to develop with our industry partners but provided high value and implementable solutions that addressed specific business challenges. We then had the opportunity to test these with our customers and further co-design improvements.

Creating a customer experience center

If you are considering implementing a customer experience center in some form or another you should consider the following:

1. Look to incorporate and leverage your existing customer experience artifacts such as journey maps, personas, service blueprints etc.

2. Start small and tackle one or two of your customers key business problems that could be resolved by a simple solution.

3. Take a true partnering approach with vendors and allow them to bring their collective expertise and innovation to the table.

4. Use a ‘sandbox’ environment to allow a level of engagement that is self-paced and experiential by design.

By closing the engagement gap through the utilization of a Human Centred Design approach, we’re helping our business discover opportunities to improve services and support that will enable Queensland Health to deliver better outcomes for Queenslanders.

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