Raymond Chong, managing director and chief executive officer of the hospital, said the hospital would utilise AVR technology to send automatic voice messages to ODP patients over their mobile phones to advise them on the status of their appointments.
For instance, when a patient is waiting to see a doctor, pay hospital bills or take a prescribed medicine, the technology can state the hospital fee and which counter the patient needs to contact.
It allows patients to spend their time inside the hospital relaxing, enjoying meals or engaging in their own business.
Meanwhile, the RFID technology is used for tracking OPD patients using an RFID tag and advanced technology medical services for patients who enter the hospital.
The hospital will use RFID to track the position of OPD patients in the OPD area. The technology will be activated when the patient does not appear after being alerted by AVR signals.
RFID tracks the exact position of the patient through the location-based tracking system which reads a tag on the patient's wrist.
"The technology facilitates patients and is especially helpful for elderly patients and those who need help with the various hospital processes," said Chong.
He said that as the next step the hospital would provide RFID technology to support both mothers and new-born babies, tracking them in order to increase the efficiency of the healthcare services.
The hospital has also invested Bt16 million to develop an infotainment system for patients.
The service offers patients simple access to healthcare information and online entertainment on television screens in their room during their stay in the hospital.
Patients will be able to access the interactive digital infotainment system through keyboards connected wirelessly to LCD television screens. More than 300 such systems will be installed in Samitivej Sukumvit, Samitivej Srinakarin and Samitivej Sriracha hospitals within three years.
The system offers entertainment such as movies, songs and computer games as well as access to hospital intranet information. The system is also linked to the hospital medical system, so for example a doctor can display a patient's X-ray or ultrasound on the television screen. In the near future, patients will also be able to keep track of their hospital bills through the service.
"A patient who sleeps around for three or four days normally starts to feel bored and useless. The infotainment services will refresh them and provide full healthcare treatment, taking care of them physically and also making them happier. They will recover their health sooner and be comfortable during their stay with us," said Chong.
In the next step the infotainment service will allow patients' relatives and friends to send electronic cards them through the hospital website.
He said that the hospital also planned to provide telemedicine to a branch hospital in Rattanatthibet with healthcare treatment over the network. Patients who live far from the Sukhumvit area will be able to check their health from a branch hospital near their home. The hospital will eventually provide healthcare services at shopping centres so patients can consult with their doctors from a distance.
"We want to bring healthcare from hospitals to shopping centres to increase the productivity of services by the end of this year," said Chong.
Autor(en)/Author(s): Jirapan Boonnoon
Quelle/Source: The Nation, 04.09.2007
