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Innovative KEC Smart Hospital TeamKowloon East Cluster
This team comprises three team leaders and nearly 50 members from different hospitals and departments. Although the team members seldom meet face-to-face, they meet online from time-to-time and gradually lead the cluster hospitals moving towards a ‘smart’ era.
Dr Cheng Hung-kai, Consultant in the Department of Anesthesia and Operating Theatre Services at Tseung Kwan O Hospital, says that the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the development of ‘smart hospital’ in the cluster. At the beginning of outbreak, the Kowloon East Cluster pioneered the implementation of telecare to provide examination and consultation services for patients at home, thereby reducing the risk of infection for both healthcare workers and patients. The team was also the first to introduce the fifth-generation mobile communication services (5G) in the operating theatres, allowing senior doctors outside the operating theatres to provide guidance in real time through mobile phones or tablets.
At the end of last year, United Christian Hospital (UCH) experienced a COVID-19 outbreak in ward. Dr Tse Man-li, Deputy Hospital Chief Executive of UCH, recalls the urgent situation at the time. The team tackled the challenges with their quick wits. For example, they designed an electronic form within two hours to facilitate colleagues to input their personal information and create barcodes, which can be printed as labels for the specimen bottles by themselves, thereby streamlining the workflow of COVID-19 testing in laboratory. Meanwhile, a live broadcast was set up at the mobile testing area, allowing colleagues to understand the queuing situation on-site so that they could choose a suitable timeslot to conduct the test.
The smart culture has been developed in Kowloon East Cluster for a few years. Terence Cham, Cluster General Manager of Administrative Services, explains ‘Smart’ is a dynamic and vibrant concept: “We strongly believe that we should Get Everybody Moving (G.E.M.), which means everyone should step forward to understand the needs of patients and colleagues and hence provide solutions by adopting new technologies.”
Team List