Digital collaboration strengthens care pathway

New working method between short-term care facility and health centers

A municipal short-term care facility in western Sweden, treating patients with temporary medical and rehabilitation needs, has introduced a new digital way of working in collaboration with the Omtanken Pedagogen Park health center. Through the digital communication platform Platform24, staff at the facility get direct contact with doctors via secure chat – quickly, safely and with the patient’s best interests in mind. The result is a smoother care process, increased patient safety and freed-up time for both nursing staff and doctors.

Category

Region

Location

Sweden

Service

Primary care

“Overall, this works very well and contributes to a smooth workflow. I like that I receive notifications for new consultations and that the list serves as a to-do list when I make my rounds at the short-term care facility.”

Henning, physician at Pedagogen Park.

The short-term healthcare facility is staffed by remote doctors center. To ensure quality and improve access to care, the business has established close digital collaboration with Omtanken Pedagogen Park, a healthcare center within the Medtanken Group.

Through Platform24’s digital consultation, staff can now start a patient case directly in the platform and get in touch with a doctor at the health center. This facilitates communication between the parties and make the process more effective.

The consultation begins when staff at the short-term accommodation facility need to contact a doctor about a patient’s condition. Before a consultation is initiated, the patient’s consent is always obtained. A consultation then begins in Platform24 – a secure and private chat where medical information can be shared between staff at the short-term accommodation and a doctor at Pedagogen Park.

Each consultation is assigned to a specific physician who receives a notification and reviews incoming requests in their Platform24 inbox. The physicians at Pedagogen Park review new consultations twice a week during rounds and respond to all active cases. A significant advantage is that the consultation remains open until the patient is discharged, enabling ongoing dialogue and follow-up.

The new way of working has led to clear gains:

For patients: faster access to medical advice – without having to wait for physical doctor’s appointments or callbacks.

For staff at the care facility: a secure, structured, and accessible way to collaborate with doctors – which improves both the work environment and patient safety.

For doctors at the health center: fewer interruptions to their work, a better overview, and reduced need for phone calls thanks to notifications and centralized case management in Platform24.

“This increases patient safety because we can keep the consultation open and offer continuous, direct support. What’s more, we don’t have to use Post-it notes, which carry the risk of information being lost,” explains Henning.

Time savings and efficiency gains

The new way of working has also led to concrete time savings. Previously, each patient case took an average of 15 minutes, divided between several phone calls. Now, the same case is handled in an average of 5 minutes via the platform – a saving of 10 minutes per patient.

Calculation explaining the time savings:

  • 34 consultations completed
  • 10 min time saved per consultation
  • Total savings: 340 minutes =

5 hours and 40 minutes of freed-up doctor time