| | February 20188By Dr. Vikram Venkateswaran, Founding Editor, Healthcare IndiaDr. Vikram Venkateswaran has over a decade of experience in Strategic Marketing, Influencer Marketing, Social Media Marketing, and Digital Marketing, and has advised multiple global corporates in the areas of Healthcare, Life sciences and Technology.TIN MY OPINIONHOW DIGITAL IS TRANSFORMING HOSPITALS IN INDIA hirty-five-year-old home-maker Aditi Sinha (named changed) was having short-ness of breath. Just minutes earlier, she had been jog-ging along in the park near Hauz Khas in South Delhi towards the market area when she felt the wind was kicked out of lungs, throw-ing her off balance and to the ground. Bystanders had called an ambulance and as she was being hauled in, she felt something was wrong. She was feeling dizzy and was on the verge of passing out. The doctor in the ambulance stabi-lized her and seemed to acknowledge that she had no sensation in the legs. Aditi doesn't clearly remember what happened next, but the entire proce-dure ­ of going from the ambulance to the hospital, being treated by doctors, and finally being discharged ­ was rather smooth, unlike what she had heard of about patients involved in accident cases. It was almost as if the doctors knew who she was, what her ailments had been, and then adminis-tered the most appropriate treatment to which her body responded well. Aditi had just suffered an asthmatic attack. The famous Delhi smog along with Aditi's determination to burn off the Diwali Sweets that morning had taken her to the hospital.For duty doctors at the new dig-ital hospitals in India, this situation is routine. Their ambulances are fit-ted with ECG machines with inbuilt blood monitoring devices so that the doctor on board can save precious time by running the necessary tests and gauging patient medical histo-ry even before reaching the hospital. Data recorded onboard the ambulance is transmitted via 4G technology to the hospitals which is then matched against the patient's electronic medi-cal records (should they be available) to identify what course of treatment would be suitable in the current situ-ation. In Aditi's case, her medical re-cords were available with the hospital, thereby enabling a course of treatment as soon as she got off the ambulance.The backbone of this healthcare transformation is patient data. Hospi-tals across India have had access to patient data for a while. But what has changed is that they are now using this data to create programs for preventive care, improve care outcomes, reduce readmissions, and improve patient en-gagement and satisfaction. How Patient Data is Being LeveragedFor instance, Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital (Kokilaben Hos-pital) uses patient data to understand the work load of various medical spe-cialists employed, seasonal variations in in-patient admissions, and forecast local disease patterns. By tracking aspects such as length of stay, emer-gency admissions, and work flow at departments like radiology and phar-macy, the hospital's management has been able to improve their patient engagement strategies as well as op-erations. The hospital also tracks
< Page 7 | Page 9 >

| | February 20188By Dr. Vikram Venkateswaran, Founding Editor, Healthcare IndiaDr. Vikram Venkateswaran has over a decade of experience in Strategic Marketing, Influencer Marketing, Social Media Marketing, and Digital Marketing, and has advised multiple global corporates in the areas of Healthcare, Life sciences and Technology.TIN MY OPINIONHOW DIGITAL IS TRANSFORMING HOSPITALS IN INDIA hirty-five-year-old home-maker Aditi Sinha (named changed) was having short-ness of breath. Just minutes earlier, she had been jog-ging along in the park near Hauz Khas in South Delhi towards the market area when she felt the wind was kicked out of lungs, throw-ing her off balance and to the ground. Bystanders had called an ambulance and as she was being hauled in, she felt something was wrong. She was feeling dizzy and was on the verge of passing out. The doctor in the ambulance stabi-lized her and seemed to acknowledge that she had no sensation in the legs. Aditi doesn't clearly remember what happened next, but the entire proce-dure ­ of going from the ambulance to the hospital, being treated by doctors, and finally being discharged ­ was rather smooth, unlike what she had heard of about patients involved in accident cases. It was almost as if the doctors knew who she was, what her ailments had been, and then adminis-tered the most appropriate treatment to which her body responded well. Aditi had just suffered an asthmatic attack. The famous Delhi smog along with Aditi's determination to burn off the Diwali Sweets that morning had taken her to the hospital.For duty doctors at the new dig-ital hospitals in India, this situation is routine. Their ambulances are fit-ted with ECG machines with inbuilt blood monitoring devices so that the doctor on board can save precious time by running the necessary tests and gauging patient medical histo-ry even before reaching the hospital. Data recorded onboard the ambulance is transmitted via 4G technology to the hospitals which is then matched against the patient's electronic medi-cal records (should they be available) to identify what course of treatment would be suitable in the current situ-ation. In Aditi's case, her medical re-cords were available with the hospital, thereby enabling a course of treatment as soon as she got off the ambulance.The backbone of this healthcare transformation is patient data. Hospi-tals across India have had access to patient data for a while. But what has changed is that they are now using this data to create programs for preventive care, improve care outcomes, reduce readmissions, and improve patient en-gagement and satisfaction. How Patient Data is Being LeveragedFor instance, Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital (Kokilaben Hos-pital) uses patient data to understand the work load of various medical spe-cialists employed, seasonal variations in in-patient admissions, and forecast local disease patterns. By tracking aspects such as length of stay, emer-gency admissions, and work flow at departments like radiology and phar-macy, the hospital's management has been able to improve their patient engagement strategies as well as op-erations. The hospital also tracks
< Page 7 | Page 9 >