IHI Triggers, Interoperable Systems and Beyond with our Chief Product Officer
19 February 2024
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In a recent episode of our What the Health Tech podcast, our Chief Product Officer, Mark Fewster delved into the transformative world of data-driven event triggers, specifically the potential impact of Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Triggers on the health and social care sector.
In this blog, we summarise the key benefits of IHI Triggers and how Radar Healthcare are leveraging innovation to improve patient safety.
"One of the things we've seen with some customers is an increase in reporting because we are reducing the number of times they need to report on something. For instance, adding it to the EPR system automatically picks it up in Radar Healthcare, triggering an event workflow, saving clinicians time. This abstraction allows for comprehensive analysis and identification of broader organisational trends and patterns through Radar Healthcare’s AI-powered analytics."
The Power of IHI Triggers in Improving Patient Safety
IHI Triggers serve as potent tools for enhancing patient safety, using a structured, data-centric approach to identify potential safety events. Acting as prompts in systems such as electronic health records (EHR), they highlight potential adverse occurrences or an indicator of harm, enabling healthcare providers to take appropriate precautions.
Within a patient record you might have determinants of something which may have caused harm to a patient so the IHI process element or one of the things clinicians are asked to do is to review a certain amount of records and within those records they check for indicators of harm. This might include a long wait time in A&E for example, so this is checked against the patient record to see if this wait resulted in an incident in some way. By digitising this whole process, it removes the need for someone to manually check the records, Radar Healthcare ‘plugs into’ the EPR and within there, particular triggers are picked up on. These triggers can include, but is not limited to:
- Patient falls
- Pressure ulcers
- Readmission to ICU
- Specific lab test results
- Unplanned readmission to theatre
And also, specific area triggers, for example:
- Maternity department / labour rooms – blood loss, lacerations, and instrumental deliveries
- Emergency department – waiting times
These triggers offer real-time, actionable insights that enable a proactive approach to patient care. Harnessing Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning, vast pools of patient data can be analysed, triggering alerts at the hint of any abnormalities. These prompt alerts not only mitigate risk but also pave the way for early intervention.Digitalising IHI Triggers not only enhances patient safety but also saves healthcare professionals time, reduces errors, and improves data integrity by eliminating the need for manual data analysis.Embracing Interoperability, Open APIs, and IHI Triggers for Better Healthcare Delivery
Interoperable systems play a crucial role in fostering collaboration in the health and social care industry. These systems enable diverse information platforms, devices, and applications to access, exchange, and integrate data seamlessly, working collectively in a synchronised manner.
Radar Healthcare’s risk, quality, and compliance system exemplifies this through an open Application Programming Interface (API) and IHI Triggers to strengthen quality and safety.
Through an open API, Radar Healthcare seamlessly integrates with software such as Electronic Patient Records (EPRs) and Care Planning Software, as well as third party systems to share critical data. This integration allows the direct incorporation of IHI Triggers into the EPR system, identifying incidents and predicting risks. Automatic triggering of event workflows ensures that the relevant people are promptly alerted, facilitating a proactive approach to patient safety.
By linking up disparate systems and enabling them to ‘talk’ to each other, you can avoid data silos, minimising the potential for errors and duplications, and encouraging an adoption of a more proactive approach rather than reactive.
The Future of Healthcare: Innovative, Data-Driven, and Interoperable
The trajectory of healthcare is unmistakably heading towards a data-centric and interoperable model. Insights from our Chief Product Officer affirm that the effective amalgamation of data-driven event triggers, interoperable systems, and advanced technologies like AI-powered analytics can revolutionise healthcare delivery. Understanding and implementing interoperable systems are vital steps towards enhancing patient quality and safety.
Tune in to our episode on What the HealthTech: Data-Driven Event Triggers, Interoperable Systems, and Beyond
Topics covered:
- IHI Triggers - the benefits of these for front line clinicians and patients
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) for automated detections and immediate response
- Robotic Process Automation (RPA) streamlining data analysis & automation
- Healthcare management transformation through automation
IHI FAQs
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is a renowned organisation dedicated to advancing healthcare quality and patient safety worldwide. It offers innovative solutions, collaboratives, and initiatives to support healthcare professionals in delivering high-quality care.
IHI Triggers are powerful tools that use a structured, data-centric approach to identify potential safety events in healthcare settings. Integrated into systems like electronic patient records (EPR), these triggers act as prompts, highlighting indicators of harm or potential adverse occurrences in real-time. By identifying specific determiners across various aspects of patient care, IHI Triggers provide actionable insights, facilitating a proactive approach to patient safety.
IHI Triggers play a pivotal role in driving innovation in healthcare by harnessing technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning. By analysing vast pools of patient data, these triggers can identify abnormalities and prompt alerts, enabling early intervention and risk mitigation. Additionally, digitalising IHI Triggers saves time for healthcare professionals, reduces errors, and enhances data integrity by eliminating manual data analysis processes.
Interoperable systems facilitate seamless collaboration and data exchange among diverse platforms and applications in the healthcare industry. By integrating systems like Electronic Patient Records (EPRs) with open APIs, organisations like Radar Healthcare can incorporate IHI Triggers directly into their workflow, identifying incidents and predicting risks in real-time. This integration ensures that relevant stakeholders are promptly alerted, fostering a proactive approach to patient safety and quality improvement.
The future of healthcare is undoubtedly moving towards a data-centric and interoperable model. By leveraging data-driven event triggers, interoperable systems, and advanced technologies like AI-powered analytics, healthcare providers can revolutionise care delivery, enhancing patient safety, efficiency, and overall quality of care. Embracing interoperability and innovative technologies will pave the way for a future marked by superior patient outcomes and organisational effectiveness.
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is using innovative software to automate repetitive tasks, freeing up resources for more strategic work.
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