In the past few years, the American healthcare system has seen changes in rules and regulations unparalleled in modern history. This includes, most notably, the 2009 mandate issued by Congress that required healthcare providers to adopt the practice of electronic medical record-keeping. This was a massive technological revolution that required huge investments in new tools to comply with these laws.
Key to this is workstations on wheels, which replaced traditional stationary workstations. Fortunately, workstation on wheels healthcare brought about changes in patient medical record access and patient documentation. This article provides four reasons why this is true.
Mobile workstations in healthcare streamline workflow and productivity
Healthcare workers who have easier access to workstations maintain compliance with rules for electronic health record-keeping, but they promote patient engagement, reduce the spread of infections, and optimise healthcare infrastructure.
Doctors can use mobile workstations to update test results, progress notes, and other patient data without making unnecessary trips to a stationary workstation. Further, this allows for higher patient engagement levels and enhanced patient care and discussions of treatments and options. Streamlined workflow procedures for doctors and nurses will enable the healthcare system to function better as a whole.
Mobile workstations in healthcare better facilitate patient documentation
When doctors and nurses must travel to and from stationary workstations to complete record-keeping, the process is dramatically complicated. When these same workers use mobile workstations, patient interactions occur in real-time, which allows for better documentation and note-taking. This reduces clerical errors that can lead to costly losses.
Mobile workstations enable doctors and nurses to more effectively input patient data at the point of care instead of moving from the patient to the location of a workstation. This allows for more considerable attention to detail and reduces the risks of making errors. The use of mobile workstations also reduces medication dispensing errors, improving patient safety. Mobile workstations even allow the integration of ancillary tools such as bar code scanners that will enable healthcare workers to scan a patient’s wristband, unlocking the proper medicine drawer, and recording the appropriate prescription date on records.
Mobile workstations in healthcare help to prevent IT infections
Access to mobile workstations by healthcare workers has proven to improve sanitation by preventing bacteria’s spread by using hardware with antibacterial coatings. By contrast, stationary workstations are typically used by multiple workers, who can spread bacteria and infections with their use. Further, healthcare workers can implement proper sanitation procedures while working with mobile workstations that move with them.
Mobile workstations in healthcare help to leverage hospital IT infrastructure
Mobile workstations enhance the mandates enacted by Congress requiring hospitals and other healthcare institutions to adopt mobile records access technologies. Mobile workstations allow doctors and nurses to better treat and diagnose patients in shorter periods. Mobile workstations help healthcare workers to deliver better quality care while complying with electronic medical record-keeping requirements.
Most healthcare institutions work to provide time and money-saving technologies. These technologies not only streamline workflow but also help attain compliance with federal record-keeping statutes. Fortunately, technology providers not only have, but have proven that they will continue to improve this technology available to everyone who requires its use. Even the healthcare industry itself has embraced technological innovation in its efforts to provide higher levels of patient care.
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Image credit: Freepik
Peter Wallace has been an advocate for mental health awareness for years. He holds a master’s degree in counselling from the University of Edinburgh.
