Technical University of Denmark: Healthcare staff will be less busy if technology is given more space in the healthcare sector
Our society is short on healthcare staff, we are short on time to provide care, and nurses are fleeing their profession.
In the current election campaign, the crisis in the Danish healthcare sector is one of the hottest issues. New figures show that 2,400 public sector nurses have left the hospitals in the regions in just one year, and several political parties are now pointing to higher pay for nurses as a possible solution to the problem.
Meanwhile, there is no mention of the countless examples of health technology solutions that free up time and resources for overworked healthcare staff. There are engineers behind the projects, they are helping to improve the quality of treatment and save time in the healthcare sector, but, with the relocation reform, the current government is proposing to educate fewer engineers from DTU. I find this to be a misguided political prioritization.
One of the technologies that has given me hope for the healthcare sector of the future was rolled out during the coronavirus pandemic, when Danish hospitals were brought to their knees.
Oxygen robots kept the hardest-hit COVID-19 patients alive in intensive care units, while nurses spent their precious working hours manually monitoring the patients’ condition. The enormous use of resources had the consequence that other seriously ill people had to wait. And wait. It all seemed hopeless.
But in the middle of all this hopelessness, DTU researchers – in collaboration with Frederiksberg Hospital, Rigshopitalet (Copenhagen University Hospital), and Bisbebjerg Hospital – had developed a technological solution that freed up time for the overworked nurses. The solution consisted in small wireless measuring devices that were mounted on the patients’ bodies to monitor their medical condition in real time.
Data were processed using a computer’s mathematical formulas, and the digital system sounded the alarm if the patient’s condition suddenly deteriorated. The result was a release of nurses’ resources as well as safer and more accurate monitoring of patients, and the system was rolled out in the whole of Denmark, where it is now also used to monitor advanced cancer patients.
More public investments
WARD – as the project is called – is one of many examples of health technology solutions based on artificial intelligence (AI) which help improve the quality of treatment, strengthen decision-making ability, and save time for doctors and nurses.
Engineers and health technology are already part of the solution. Over ten years, the proportion of engineers working in the Danish healthcare sector has increased by 22 per cent according to the Danish Society of Engineers, IDA. This has been of major importance to innovation in the healthcare sector, because when the engineers are out there in the field, they see the problems on location and develop technology that can optimize treatment in a close dialogue with doctors, nurses, and patients. Technology for people.
If the pressure on healthcare and care staff is to be eased, it is time to prioritize engineers and technology politically so that the implementation can be speeded up.
In the current situation, most of the new health technology solutions are developed in small start-ups, and when they are to be automated and scaled up, the process is slowed down. Years of tests and safety approvals are—in fact—then required, and large sums of capital from private investors are needed if a small enterprise is to stay afloat. Often the necessary investments are unobtainable, and the solution remains a good idea.
In an election campaign where the focus is on the crisis in the healthcare sector, it is time to talk about how public investments in health technology can help solve the problems.
I am not denying that more pay for nurses can make the job more attractive, and thus be part of the solution. But if pay increases stand alone as a solution, it is only a small patch on a very large wound.
Meaningfulness and humanity must return to the Danish healthcare sector and money alone cannot conjure this up. If we want to retain the nurses, they must be given the time and resources needed to take care of their patients and make a difference. Technology can help with that.