Improving the patient journey... one paper mountain at a time

Photo by Christa Dodoo on Unsplash

When talking about the patient journey, we think about the process an individual goes through when they seek health care and work to resolve their health issues. It's also about understanding the impact on others involved in helping the patient navigate the system. Where are the opportunities to improve? And how can we prevent harm to patients during their journey?

The *ECRI Institute’s list of ‘Top Patient Safety Concerns in 2019’ provides more context to the journey in relation to potentially negative outcomes. Top threats to patient safety include healthcare provider burnout, antimicrobial stewardship, infections with peripherally inserted IV lines, early sepsis recognition and problems with standardising safety efforts across health systems.

In conjunction with hospital quality managers, infection prevention control teams are uniquely positioned to accomplish performance improvement aimed at reducing HAIs (in addition to wider quality improvement and patient safety issues.) With the right tools, these teams can harness the knowledge, skills, and experience of contributing individuals to make lasting improvements. 

There is a better way

Digital audits, automated action plans and task management, mobile incident reporting, and easy-to-understand insight dashboards are just some of the tools that innovative hospitals are actively investing in today as part of their strategic quality improvement initiatives. 

Hospitals now have the ability to arm already overstretched staff at risk of burnout with more efficient technology solutions; tipping the balance from admin overwhelm back to towards patient care and a quality-focused culture to be proud of.

Using technology to digitise and automate workflows, prioritise ‘care time’, and gain a real-time understanding of a hospital's quality and compliance performance is game-changing - not only for tomorrow's patient journey but also the wellbeing of today's healthcare professional.

[This article first appeared in the IPCI Annual Newsletter, May ‘19]

*ECRI Institute is an independent nonprofit authority on the medical practices and products that provide the safest, most cost-effective care.

MEG named as one of The Sunday Business Post's '100 Hot Startups'

The Sunday Post has released their list of ‘100 Hot Start-ups’ and MEG is delighted to be included among a wide variety of exciting and innovative startups.

Click here to read more: https://www.businesspost.ie/business/irelands-start-scene-points-vibrant-future-452980

New ‘HPSC-ready’ PPS tool enables Irish pharmacists to collect & submit their October audit data in record time

Last week we announced the launch of our new ‘HPSC-ready’ 2019 PPS Auditing tool, as the latest addition to MEG's digital Audits module.

Purpose-built for Irish hospital pharmacists conducting the National Antimicrobial Point Prevalence Survey (PPS), the app can capture PPS data, then automatically populate the relevant Excel spreadsheet sections to the exact format specifications of HPSC - ready for download at the push of a button. 

Also included, is full access to a comprehensive reporting dashboard, giving pharmacists real-time feedback on prescribing data they’ve collected (sample partial report below):

The simple, mobile and web-based system, was recently trialled in a number of Irish hospitals and has been emphatically welcomed by users, delivering substantial savings in time, costs and duplication errors.

The Auditing app can be downloaded directly onto phones or tablets from app stores and searching for “MEG Audit Tool”. Contact us to get access to the 2019 PPS Audit tool today.

To learn more, contact info@megsupporttools.com or call 01 697 1579

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#IP2019: Get the skinny on super-fast audit reporting for IPC teams... a 5-min pitch:

So we’ve come to the end of another terrific IPS Annual Conference today - and what an event it's been! Great catching up with familiar faces and meeting many more new ones too.

We've thoroughly enjoyed our time here in Liverpool. Fearless in the face of the jam-packed 3-day conference, with a host of excellent speakers and presenters, the delegates led the way in showing us how to 'work hard, play hard'… From dance floor Revolucion!, to the hilarious Dr (should that be future “Minister”?) Phil Hammond; 'The Great Debate', to the glitz and glam of the Gala Dinner and deserving recipients of the awards ceremony - it has been a blast!

The opportunity to take part in the 'Pitch in Five' was definitely one of the highlights for the team here at MEG. And we thank all of you who supported us on the day!

Click on the video above to view Kerrill’s short talk on how MEG's QMS software is helping Infection Control teams across the UK and Ireland save time, money and most importantly drive a culture of quality improvement. Don't forget to share it with any colleagues who might find it useful too!

See you in 2020!

Visit MEG at the IPS Annual Conference 2019, ACC Liverpool

The IPS annual conference is the largest infection prevention and control exhibition in the UK and it is expected to attract upwards of 600 professionals in its varied audience. Over the past few years, the IPS has focussed on offering a more diverse delegate profile; the conference is now not only relevant to healthcare delegates as the issue of infection prevention is becoming increasingly important to many industry sectors.

Come and visit us at Stand 78 - For MEG software and use case demos during the conference

Visit our stand to speak to product experts and the senior management team on how MEG’s suite of QI modules and tools could help support your hospital’s infection prevention, antimicrobial stewardship and quality improvement efforts:

• Digital audits and inspections

• Quality improvement plans

• Incident reporting

• Document management

• Clinical guidelines

• Insight dashboards

For more information drop us an email to info@megsupporttools.com