Page 52 - HA Convention 2016 [Abstracts (Day 1)]

HOSPITAL AUTHORITY CONVENTION 2016 Service Enhancement Presentations

F1.7 Service Revamp 13:15 Room 421

SMART TEL (Telephone Enquiry Logistic) — Specialist Outpatient Department Communication System
Tam WS 1, Chow KY 2, Wong YL1, Wong PS 1, Li YK1, Leung YF 1, Chow SY 1 , Ma CH 3, Chiu YW 3 ,
Chan HB 3, Lee KW 3, Fanny Lee4
1Specialist Outpatient Department, United Christian Hospital, 2Quality and Safety Office, Kowloon East Cluster, Hospital
Authority, 3Information Technology Department, 4Property Management and Supporting Services Department, United Christian

Hospital, Hong Kong

Introduction

In 2009, Telephone Enquiry Team (TET) was set up in Specialist Outpatient Department (SOPD) of United Christian Hospital
(UCH) to handle all in-coming calls and enquiries. They refer to nurses for professional advices on health conditions/
medication issues. The clerk would document in the log book and send to relevant clinic on an hourly-basis.

This process incurred four important problems. Firstly, the log book was passed to clinic without saving a copy. TET did not
know the progress if patient called again. Secondly, the handling process by nurse will be delayed for two hours or to the next
day due to hourly round. Patient called the hotline repeatedly during the waiting period. Patients might complain if the clinic
nurse did not reply timely. Thirdly, there was a potential loss of patient data (log book) during transportation. Fourthly, staff
could not trace the progress of patients’ enquires. To solve the above problems, the SOPD created the SMART TEL (Telephone
Enquiry Logistic) – a SOPD communication system with the help from the IT Department.

Tuesday, 3 May Objectives

(1) Security: Security of patient data during the process (zero risk).
(2) Multi-department: Interdepartmental staff involvement (effective management).
(3) Assurance: Service quality of handling patient enquiry (computerised information system).
(4) Responsiveness: Nurses can handle the cases timely and the progress are updated in system promptly (timely approach).
(5) Tracking: All staff can trace the progress via web-based channel (monitoring enhancement).

Methodology

A web-based platform (SMART TEL – SOPD communication system) has been developed. Firstly, clerks input the details of
enquiries and distributes to the relevant clinic via the system. Then, the clinic nurses can retrieve enquiry records wherever
available. Finally, those interventions can be recorded in the web-based system at real time. Therefore, all staff can recognise
the progress and respond clearly. This system is secured by individual login.

Results

SOPD staff used the SMART TEL to handle 500 enquiries daily. Response time can be reduced from more than two hours
or days to within a minute. Moreover, the security of patient data had been guarded safely. Staff can retrieve the patient
progress anywhere anytime. We can further improve the service quality by studying the daily statistics of patient enquiries
recorded in the system. Recently, this web-based system had been extended to the Patient Relationship Office to facilitate
the handling of patients’ complaints. This system may also be extended to Pharmacy to provide additional pharmaceutical
advice timely.

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