Tygerberg Hospital has ditched paper-based patient folders, replacing them with voice and electronic notes instead. This is an effort by the hospital to reduce transmission of COVID-19 among its staff.
This ambitious digitisation process will aid in improving the care of severly ill COVID-19 patients and reduce infection among healthcare workers, according to DispatchLIVE. Cameras will also be installed, allowing stable patients to video call with their families.
DispatchLIVE reports that this is the second Cape hospital to go paperless in its COVID-19 unit. The Hospital of Hope, which is the coronavirus field hospital set up at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) was the first to do so earlier in June.
Professor Jimmy Volmink, who is the Dean of Medicine and Health Services at the University of Stellenbosch, said the new digitised system would create a safer environment for staff to treat COVID-19 patients in the intensive care unit (ICU). The move costs millions, and has been made possible with a grant from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.
Tygerberg is the Western Cape’s first designated COVID-19 hospital, and is dealing with many patients who require critical care. It services the ICU needs of district and regional hospitals such as Paarl, Worcester, Khayelitsha and Helderberg hospitals.
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