Smartphone Scanning Helps Attract and Retain Healthcare Professionals

| Healthcare

Nurse holding tablet

The last two years have been tough for all workers, but none more so than healthcare professionals.

In a 2021 global study of 2,707 healthcare professionals from 60 countries, 51% reported burnout associated with work impacting household activities, feeling pushed beyond training and exposure to COVID-19 patients.

Time-consuming administrative tasks add increased pressure to those already feeling overwhelmed. Burnouts, low morale and lack of motivation are just some of the symptoms healthcare professionals experience.

In extreme cases, many are turning their backs on a career in healthcare altogether, which is leading to shortfalls in essential medical staff like nurses.

Other challenges for teaching and mainstream hospitals include the need to reduce costs, while increasing compliance and reducing human error.

This blog explores a way to help attract and retain healthcare professionals, particularly nurses, by automating manual, routine and repetitive workflows. Learn how smartphone scanning frees up more time to focus on patient care, while becoming an essential part of PPE in hospitals.

Unburdening healthcare professionals from manual admin

No nurse enters their profession because they love admin.

Some healthcare workers complete manual records repeatedly. At best, some wheel around antiquated PCs, or carry cumbersome handheld bluetooth scanners to do something as fundamental as medication admin. Equipment is often shared amongst several staff and neither are easily transportable within or across wards.

Tracking down the right equipment when it’s needed to complete necessary admin is time consuming and stress inducing. Yet keeping accurate records is a compliance requirement, so finding a better way to complete administrative tasks is the best remedy for staff, for the patient and for the hospital.

Scandit’s mobile scanning for healthcare makes verifying patient details, medication administration, and tracking medical supplies easier and quicker so that nurses, new and established, can get greater job satisfaction spending more time on patient care.

Retaining nurses with a personal smartphone assistant

Teaching hospitals across the globe are keen to increase nursing satisfaction to a level where trainees want to stay at the hospital they trained at.

Staff retention not only allows teaching hospitals to recoup their investment in training, it also boosts patient satisfaction and, in turn, improves hospital ratings.

Technology offers a great way to attract newly trained and experienced nurses, especially when it makes their job easier. However, its ease of use and reliability are important factors in ensuring adoption. Smartphones are accessible, portable and easy to carry around in a breast or back pocket.

With high performance scanning, such as Scandit’s Barcode Scanner SDK, installed on a familiar smart device, admin can be seamlessly integrated into teaching hospitals and healthcare workflows without neglecting patients or putting undue pressure on nursing staff.

Teaching hospitals are finding that student nurses who recognize the benefits are keen to use the new technology. They enjoy the convenience of it being installed on their own Android or iPhone, empowering them to take control of their work and do more.

Carrying out vital tasks safely with one familiar device

Time costs money and in the case of healthcare it costs patient care too. Being able to carry out multiple administrative tasks effortlessly with a single portable device anywhere in a hospital is a game-changer.

In teaching hospitals, automated admin processes can be implemented from the get-go.

Also, whether using a personal device or one supplied by the hospital, each healthcare professional only ever needs to touch one device throughout a shift before it’s sterilized for the next person. On the other hand, sharing dedicated handheld devices increases the likelihood of infection transmission and therefore increases the need for sterilization per shift.

The use of familiar intuitive devices means that staff training can be completed more quickly and at less cost to the hospital without compromising on compliance for critical workflows. In fact, Scandit’s mobile computer vision technology can be implemented alongside the Epic Rover smartphone solution in as little as 14 days.

The consolidation of several tools and multiple tasks into one, easy-to-use handheld device for nurses makes their life easier and enables them to spend more time on patient care. Happier staff means happier patients, which is good news all round for any hospital setting.

Carrying out vital tasks cost efficiently in any challenging environment

Scandit’s Barcode Scanner SDK supports over 20,000 Android and iOS models, consolidating multiple devices onto one familiar interface and replacing bulky and expensive scanners and workstations on wheels (WoWs). This lower cost of ownership – approx 3x less – is invaluable in today’s healthcare environment where every penny counts.

Unparalleled scanning ability provided by Scandit’s mobile computer vision technology means that previously challenging tasks, such as scanning a patient’s ID bracelet while asleep, can now be done in low light and from any angle, without disturbing the patient.

Also mobile admin can often be limited by network restrictions. However, smart devices can connect to hospital systems by many different means – 4G, WiFi, or even Bluetooth – meaning faster response times and rare cases of poor connectability. With each nurse responsible for their own device, phones and tablets are more likely to remain charged and ready for use anytime and anywhere.

Mobilize healthcare in your hospital

With 5 out of the top 7 in-demand occupations in the US being in healthcare, introducing Scandit’s mobile computer vision technology to familiar smart devices can help attract staff by facilitating better patient care, regulating compliance and making modern nursing more mobile.

Well-established and world-renowned healthcare organizations, such as John Hopkins Hospital, Mount Sinai Hospital, UCLA hospitals, UCSF hospitals, the University of Florida hospitals and the NHS are already discovering the advantages of using Scandit’s Barcode Scanner SDK integrated with mobile apps, such as Epic Rover, for bedside administration of medication and electronic health record updates from anywhere in the hospital.

Contact us for more details on how to bring modern mobility to your hospital staff. Also read our guide for more information.