The current approach to healthcare is risk-management and reactive care. Processes within health authorities are so complex and time-consuming, they waste valuable resources. Systems need to be brought in-house and simplified to avoid wasting the valuable time of doctors and nurses. We need hospital systems to be streamlined and communicate with each other to ease the administrative burden on healthcare professionals.
The BC Greens' plan for Standardizing processes and improving internal communications
Nurses spend an average of 45 minutes per patient on paperwork - costing the system critical time that could be spent on patient care.
Health authorities have prioritized risk management over timely and supportive patient care. Hospital admission can sometimes require up to 70 pages of forms simply to protect the hospital from fear of legal action. The information that is recorded goes far beyond what is necessary to ensure patients’ identities are confirmed, critical medical information is recorded, and healthcare professionals have the information they need to provide a high quality of care.
Departments in the same hospital have different forms for overlapping data that have to be completed every time a patient moves. The same is true between hospitals and health authorities.
These redundant processes also cost the healthcare system critical time that skilled professionals should be using to advance patient care.
Not only do computer systems between health authorities not communicate with one another, but systems within the same hospital often do not. Healthcare professionals frequently have to access 3-4 different systems just to get all the pertinent information on one patient.
Current hospital systems are deliberately designed by a US for-profit company for individual departments without a native way to communicate and share information. The only way to bridge that gap is to hire the US developer to facilitate the communication on an on-going basis.
We need software that can be built and managed by BC so that it works for our needs and reduces redundant processes.