A hospital in Rhode Island performed three brain surgeries on the wrong side of the brain in less than a year. -NBC News
In 2002, a 70-year-old war veteran died after surgeons removed the
wrong kidney. –The Telegraph
In 2003, a 17-year-old girl died after receiving mismatched organs during a heart and double-lung transplant. –Los Angeles Times
When we come across cases of medical negligence like these, we wonder how doctors — who are rightly considered to be some of the smartest members of society — can get the basics so wrong. A closer look reveals that all of them could have been avoided with proper documentation and communication between the staff involved. In all of these cases, the information didn’t get where it needed to: some critical information was not documented properly, something wasn’t communicated to other staff who needed to know it, or the case notes weren’t checked before the procedure.
The importance of documentation and collaboration in healthcare cannot be overemphasised. When healthcare professionals don’t communicate effectively, patient safety is compromised. Leaving out vital information, misinterpreting the information available, giving unclear verbal orders, and overlooking changes in circumstances can all lead to catastrophic medical errors that threaten patients’ lives.
Significance of cloud file management and collaboration in healthcare
The medical community is well aware of the importance of healthcare documentation, as seen in the CMPA’s medical documentation guidelines. However, many healthcare professionals feel that the traditional documentation system is a burden, or that it’s eating up valuable time which could be better spent on patient care. This is where cloud file management and collaboration tools save the day by enabling providers to easily record their notes at the point of care.
Zoho Docs facilitates document sharing for seamless patient care among doctors, nurses, and patients. Organizing files using unique ID tags in addition to patient names keeps providers from misplacing medical records, reducing the chance of healthcare errors and malpractice lawsuits. When the patient’s whole file is connected properly, there’s no chance of a missing image or the wrong set of notes causing a botched procedure. You can also improve process efficiency by creating a database of treatments administered, which acts as a permanent record for the patient’s future care. Our in-app chat panel fosters staff communication regarding patients’ conditions and treatment plans during shift changes. With file access levels such as read-only, read/write, and read/comment, you can ensure the confidentiality of patients’ records.
Preventing mistakes is important, but so is responding to them. If a medical error does happen despite all of your best practices, our detailed analytics and audit trail make it possible to see exactly what went wrong and design a response that will keep it from happening again.
It’s never too early to start improving. Sign up for free to improve your operational efficiency and enhance your patient care without changing your IT infrastructure.
Please let us know in the comments how Zoho Docs worked for you. Here are few tips on managing your healthcare files more easily and efficiently. If you have any suggestions for how we can improve our own services too, feel free to write to us at docs-support@zohocorp.com.
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