The past two years have been a major test for hospital systems across the world. The coronavirus pandemic pushed staff to breaking point, but there are plenty of signs that hospitals have and will continue to recover from what they have been through. Let’s take a look at some of the improvements and changes we have seen.
Improving Patient Flow
The wait times in emergency clinics and outpatient facilities such as the NHS’s A&E is known to be incredibly high, much higher than it should be. This ultimately leads to a backlog of care, and can result in some patients not receiving care as quickly as they should.
Steps need to be taken to improve the flow of patients from the moment that they enter A&E or are admitted through other means all the way through to when they are discharged again. Money and resources are already being submitted to help make these changes easier to manage. Doing so will mean that hospitals will be able to recover and will move their patients through their systems at a decent rate – getting the right care and treatments along the way.
Equipment Innovations
Hospitals are always innovating and searching for new procedures and tools that they can use to improve operations and other treatments. The continued development of such tools, plus their adoption into hospital procedures around the world, is a key indicator that hospitals are continuing to recover.
A great example here can be found in the new surgical retractor from June Medical, which features an innovative, self-retaining design that reduces the need for additional personnel to assist the surgeon throughout a procedure. For more info on this inventive new take on the surgical retractor, click here.
Improving Patient Care
As mentioned above, patient flow is being improved to ensure that all can move through their treatments as speedily as can be. However, this is not the same as improving patient care, and this is something being strived for every day.
A question being raised, alongside others, is whether a bigger hospital necessarily means a better one. The general consensus is that extra due care needs to be taken to ensure that patient care does not take a hit when populating the larger hospitals being built in major cities and other areas. With all of this innovation going towards the creation of these facilities in the first place, it is also vital that best practices are put in place to care for patients.
There are so many positive signs out there that hospitals will continue to recover and become better than ever before. It is vital that new innovations continue to be made, so that patient care can remain the absolute top concern of medical professionals, no matter how simple or complex a case might be. With the right care and innovation, a hospital should be able to recover from the strain of the pandemic with ease.
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