Dedalus is extending the existing interoperability capabilities of its webPAS patient administration system to support digital theatre booking requests, as private hospitals look to improve theatre utilisation, capacity management and list optimisation.
The company is working with multiple private hospital groups on the capability, which is designed to allow theatre booking and referral information from surgeons’ consulting rooms to flow directly into webPAS.
While most hospitals already operate advanced digital systems across their clinical and administrative environments, many key processes still rely on manual intervention between applications that were not designed to work seamlessly together.
Dedalus said reducing those inefficiencies was becoming increasingly important as hospitals faced growing demand, workforce constraints and pressure to make better use of existing capacity.
Dedalus PAS Business Unit lead Mark Melbourne-Walters said webPAS already had an established interoperability framework supporting patient pre-admissions, with the theatre booking request work extending that capability to another hospital workflow.
“The proposed theatre workflow would allow booking and referral information generated in private consulting suites to be transferred directly into webPAS, reducing manual handling and improving data quality,” Mr Melbourne-Walters said.
“Currently, hospital staff may need to receive those details by phone or fax, check the information and manually enter it into the patient administration system.”
Mr Melbourne-Walters said one large hospital group had reported dedicating significant administrative resources to managing theatre booking requests. He noted that reducing these administrative workloads could allow hospitals to redirect resources to other areas, while improving the flow of information needed to manage theatre capacity and optimise operating lists.
Dedalus said more efficient theatre booking workflows could also help hospitals increase service provision without requiring a corresponding increase in administration.
Rather than requiring hospitals to replace the practice management or referral products already used by surgeons, the integration approach is intended to allow third-party systems to connect with webPAS.
Dedalus has an established interoperability framework for patient pre-admissions and is now opening it to more third-party vendors. Two vendors currently use the framework, while others are working with the company under non-disclosure agreements to develop integrations.
Mr Melbourne-Walters said hospitals were looking for efficient ways to receive theatre booking requests and referrals directly into webPAS.
“We’re using an established interoperability framework within webPAS and extending that to support the theatre booking request workflow,” he said.
“The aim is to bring that information into webPAS in a consistent manner, rather than relying on the manual processes that exist between different systems today.”
“There’s a lot of duplication, there’s a lot of hand-holding and processes can become fragmented, increasing administrative overhead and operational inefficiencies.”
He said the development formed part of Dedalus’s broader strategy to extend webPAS beyond the walls of the hospital and connect administrators, clinicians, patients and external providers.
“By connecting information generated in consulting rooms and patient-facing systems with hospital administrative workflows,the approach will give hospitals a more integrated view of demand and capacity and support better theatre utilisation and productivity.”
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