In today’s dynamic and constantly evolving healthcare environment, hospitals are facing a number of challenges on how to achieve efficiency. Critical communication plays a key role here as the hospital staff can share the right information, at the right time, to the right person. This also involves saving crucial time for the staff and enables them to take better care of patients.
Francis Schmeer, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Ascom, told Daily Dose: “Trending topics such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) are based on data analysis and what we see in many of the hospitals is that hospital information systems, medical devices, nursing systems and all the information systems are either clinical or administrative in a hospital, and are often built in silos and are not connected. If they are not connected, data doesn’t flow into systems such as AI.”
He explained that AI will work only if there are platforms through which the innovation can be delivered on. “We are offering the prerequisites or the infrastructure that can support the use of AI. Our solutions allow for this connectivity and once you have the data you can drive it to the AI engine that then delivers a more holistic population wide type of information. This then allows for greater efficiency.”
Ascom works with data on two levels. One is making sure what the data says happens at the right time for the right person, but the company also sets up that database and allows AI to work with the database. “We are the last inch to the patient, because all the data (which can be about 3,000 datapoints per patient) is accessed by us. We use that to help nurses and doctors so that they can provide immediate and better care. We also help it do population trends, and to improve overall hospital performance,” Schmeer highlighted.
Ahmad Al Jassim, Managing Director, Ascom, added: “Data is important, especially in the Middle East, because of insurance. God forbid if anything happens, the insurance companies will need data to substantiate any case – data for insurance, data for healing”
One of the areas where the company is innovating is in by bringing all the alerts and data from restricted areas such as the ICU and the OR into mobiles and big screens. “This gives a second line of support to give to doctors,” said Al Jassim. “Ascom is becoming an important player in this area. We have just won the second largest deal in clinical solutions to integrate our products with ICU and OR theatres.”
While Jeannine Pilloud, Chief Executive Officer, Ascom, shared: “At Arab Health, we are showcasing our integrated solutions portfolio on our booth. We are showing customers the different entry points where they can start their digitalisation process. We have a wide portfolio of solutions and services that is giving us the opportunity to help and support in several ways. I am very interested to see and hear from our customers, about how the solutions work for them and what their potential future needs are. This is important for us to plan our R&D sector.”
Accoridng to Pilloud the UAE is a strategic market for the company, as it is developing very fast and is always ready to implement complex solutions. Schmeer concluded: “The UAE is an important market for growth and development, but we also learn from here. Our global roadmap is informed by what happens here, so it’s a very symbiotic relationship.”
