Is Technology the Answer for the Medical Industry?

Patient Safety Technology

Imagine having your hospital discharge instructions issued to you by a pre-programmed avatar displayed on a bedside touch-screen computer. The introduction of this type of technology would not serve as a replacement for bedside nurses and doctors. Instead, it would complement them by making their jobs a lot easier, and allowing them to spend more time with critical patients who require additional bedside care.

Introducing Project Re-Engineered Discharge

Project Re-Engineered Discharge or RED as it is more commonly known, is an electronic device that is able to advise patients on topics such as follow-up care and medication dosage instructions before they are discharged from a hospital. Developed by a medical research group at Boston University Medical Center, the system will also promote patient safety in that it is able to offer clear patient care instructions in a few different languages. This is an ideal system for improving the hospital patient safety of patients who do not speak English as a first language, and who have difficulty in understanding it.

Reducing the Percentage of Readmissions

According to a few research studies carried out in nursing homes, introducing programs such as these to assist with hospital discharge procedures would have the ability to help reduce hospital readmissions by as much as 24%. This would not only save people money; it would also enhance patient safety in hospitals, and reduce the workload of doctors and nurses. This could result in fewer patient fatalities as a result of medical errors.

A Similar System Tested Elsewhere

A chairman at Florida Atlantic University

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