Now more than ever, there’s more pressure on emergency services around the world to speed up response times and improve patient care during transport. Providers of emergency medical services (EMS) are currently seeking creative solutions to maintain a good level of service at a lower cost. There is a need now for emergency responders to be able to send information from the response site to the hospital before arrival. Sending insurance and preliminary treatment information prior to arrival makes check-in and processing much faster. With the influx of patients that responders and hospitals have seen over the last year, being able to communicate in real-time is becoming a need rather than a want in the healthcare industry.
Three uses of rugged tablets for emergency medical services:
Rugged tablet for patient registration and check-in
Many healthcare facilities automate patient check-in, registration, and health information collection as part of patient-centric initiatives using a rugged tablet to boost efficiency and the waiting room experience. This eliminates the need for time-consuming and error-prone transcriptions while streamlining patient intake by substituting paper forms on clipboards. Rugged tablets may be a better option than floor-standing kiosks, particularly in situations when space is limited, such as during periods of extreme peak demand or on a clinic/patient floor waiting room.
Rugged medical tablets are the perfect technology for first responders in the field, as they can be carried into a scene, digitally signed, and used in the back of an ambulatory service while being treated. With antimicrobial coating, these tablets prevent the spread of harmful germs.
Rugged tablet for digital charting
The usage of portable rugged tablets has increased significantly over the past few years. Rugged tablets retain comprehensive patient histories in the palm of a provider’s hand and improve clinician communication by facilitating simpler access to clinical and non-clinical data. Healthcare tablets also enable professionals to collaborate, collect and manage data, and improve workflow. Prior to a patient’s arrival at a hospital, first responders can quickly submit images, videos, patient history, allergies and other and other pertinent information on the patient’s condition.
Communicating with medical teams at the hospital prior to the patients arrival allows the team to be ready to receive the patient without needing to take additional time to collect this information from the patient and first responders.
Rugged tablet for medical billing services
Emergency medical teams can transmit insurance information and treatment pre-qualifications while still traveling to the hospital using the rugged tablet. The most recent, secure, card readers are integrated in rugged tablets for first responders. These eliminate costly paperwork, data entry, and transcription errors, including those involving basic patient information and insurance information. Rugged tablets can quickly read a medical ID card and a staff security access card, bringing the exact information at the level of clearance to each user.
Billing for ambulatory services is faster with the use of rugged tablets, reducing delays in sending the bill weeks or months later. From the minute a patient is picked up, all the services and medicines they receive are instantly logged into the rugged medical tablet and sent back to the managing company for quick turnaround to insurance for faster billing and payment.
Rugged tablets from DT Research can be used in conjunction with appropriate software to enable one data entry that can be examined in real-time by dispatch, on-scene first responders, and hospital staff. Information exchange is swift and patient care is improved because electronic patient charting assures that all relevant information may be accessed at any time by any party participating in patient care. While the integrated billing services help reduce the amount of paperwork for patients and enable quicker service billing and quicker payment of medical teams.
Written by DT Research
July 4, 2022
