Prospitalia’s 2024 Best Practice Quickfire Award

First Place Among Best Practice Innovation Projects in the Healthcare Market

June 6, 2024 — On April 15 and 16, 2024, the Prospitalia Congress took place once again this year; in recent years, it has established itself as a platform for exchange and knowledge transfer in the German healthcare sector. Under this year’s theme, “FORESIGHT. VISION. OUTLOOK. Shaping the Future Together,” the congress explored current and future opportunities and challenges in the hospital market. The central question was: How can we work together to shape the transformation of the healthcare sector?

In keeping with this spirit, the Zollernalb Klinikum and Thieme presented their joint project in their pitch for the 2024 Best Practice Quickfire Award and won first place among the Best Practice innovation projects in the hospital market. “We Love Digital — A Paperless, Interactive Patient Registration Experience” succinctly explains the added value that the introduction of digital patient registration offers the hospital.

Digitally Supported Patient Registration

During the patient admission process, a wide range of data is collected, such as identification and medical history information. The treatment agreement also includes the patient’s consent to treatment. Consent to elective services documents the patient’s agreement to optional services, such as the use of a private room or the receipt of specific treatments. By providing consent for discharge management, patients decide whether medical information may be shared with downstream facilities, such as rehabilitation clinics.

All of these documents — and potentially many others, such as those related to data protection — are filled out on a laptop or tablet during digital patient registration and digitally signed in a legally compliant manner. Once the necessary patient data has been saved, it is accessible on all ward computers throughout the hospital. Doctors, therapists, nurses, administrative staff, and even cafeteria staff can access the specific information relevant to their area of responsibility and tailor their care to each patient’s individual needs.

Everyone involved benefits from a noticeable reduction in workload and faster processes. Instead of multiple paper printouts, at most one printout is needed for the patient’s copy — unless the document is sent by email anyway. The problem of misplaced documents and the tedious search for them is a thing of the past, because everyone involved in the care process has access to patient data at any time via ward computers and tablets. This allows doctors and nurses to view medical history data with a single click, while the administrative staff has the data needed for billing contracted services readily available.