NHS workers obtain take a look at outcomes on to their telephones with Microsoft Groups
With the help of Microsoft teamsNHS staff at a large Southampton hospital are using technology to help people with coronavirus symptoms rise to quickly find out who has the virus and who doesn't.
Thanks to a bot in Microsoft Teams, doctors, nurses and specialists at University Hospital Southampton have switched to test results from patients on their cell phones. This has reduced the time it takes to determine if someone has the virus from hours to minutes.
Patients with negative test results can then be transferred from isolation units to a ward where they are routinely placed when they show symptoms, making room for new people arriving at the hospital.
Previously, health workers checked a desktop computer in a ward or office every few hours to see if test results were received.
Dr. Ashwin Pinto, a neurologist at the hospital, said: “We can now provide real-time data to doctors and nurses. I can get COVID-19 results that are immediately displayed on my phone as soon as they are published by the laboratory. We can know where this patient is so that we can ensure that he is in the right care environment and that the staff are safe. It was a transformation. "
The Southampton University Hospital also has a notification channel that can be used to notify everyone when an employee is diagnosed with coronavirus.
The bot was created by the Microsoft partner Medxnote for use in teams that are also used by healthcare professionals to communicate and share information even when they are not in the hospital. Doctors and nurses can also use teams to immediately notify colleagues when they are needed in a specific area of the hospital.
Similar bots are used in NHS Foundation Trusts across the country, including Liverpool University Hospitals and Mid Cheshire NHS Foundation Trust.
All NHS employees were given free access to teams to support them in their work. Doctors and nurses typically use a combination of pagers and phone calls to communicate. Mobile phone calls, however, took too long and were difficult to answer at work, and it was difficult to share information.
Dr. Pinto said: “We realized that we need to display information in real time. We wanted to be able to give junior doctors important information directly so they knew exactly who to see and who to prioritize. Teams are the only product that allows us to use data in a really simple format for junior doctors and enable them to share them so that they can work as a team to prioritize patients. "
Laura Robinson, Head of Health & Life Sciences at Microsoft UK, said: “It is critical that NHS staff can communicate and collaborate quickly and easily, especially in times of crisis. Regardless of where they are in a hospital, doctors and nurses must send and receive information in order to provide the best possible care to patients. Microsoft is proud to help healthcare workers be at the forefront of the coronavirus pandemic. "
