The system for family doctors was launched in 2022. Since then, it has been expanded to include modules for various specialized doctors, rehabilitation specialists, and physiotherapists, each tailored to their unique work practices and documentation needs.
The web-based platform offers a comprehensive workspace for doctors to document appointments and treatment plans, compile referrals for tests, and issue prescriptions, sick leave notices, and invoices. Doctors can upload data to the national health portal, making it accessible to other healthcare institutions, and they can view patients’ medical histories and test results.
The platform was designed to streamline the flow of information and automate tasks whenever possible. Its carefully crafted user interface ensures a smooth user experience while minimizing the risk of accidental errors. This web-based application can be accessed from any device, such as tablets, during physiotherapy sessions, providing greater flexibility.
The system communicates with various external systems (Health Portal, Health Insurance Fund, Prescription System) through a gateway. Its modular structure allows for maintenance and modifications with minimal disruption.
During the development process, we collaborated closely with the Medicum staff, collecting suggestions and feedback from doctors, nurses, and other staff to ensure the system meets their needs and provides a seamless user experience.
Meet the customer
Medicum is one of the largest private healthcare institutions in Estonia, providing both outpatient general and specialized medical care. With a team of 450 specialists, the institution offers a range of services, including family medicine, specialized medical care, rehabilitation, dental care, independent nursing services, diagnostics, and laboratory analysis.
The collaboration between Helmes and Medicum began in 2020. In 2021, we initiated a project to replace the company’s medical information system, which had been in use for more than 20 years, with a new custom-developed platform.
The challenge
Medicum aimed to create an innovative and modern workspace specifically tailored for doctors and healthcare professionals, simplifying their daily tasks.
The platform was intended to feature separate modules for family doctors, specialists, and physiotherapists, addressing their unique work practices and documentation needs.
Rather than rely on a traditional desktop-based solution that is common in the medical sector, the team envisioned a web-based application that could beaccessed from any device, providing staff greater flexibility in their work.
The process
During the initial mapping and ideation phase, we observed the team using their old system and collected insights about processes that could be automated or improved. Collaborating with our in-house design team, we proposed a preliminary concept for the platform.
In the prototyping phase, we developed and refined a prototype through multiple feedback sessions with doctors, nurses, and other staff members.
During the development phase, we regularly presented our progress to stakeholders and incorporated their feedback as we developed the system module by module. For each module, we collaborated closely with specific user groups of specialized doctors, tailoring the workspace to their unique needs.
The system’s modular structure allowed for a gradual rollout. The first module, designed for family doctors, was launched in May 2022. Since then, we have introduced additional modules for various specialists and physiotherapists. We also added a module for tests and procedures, enabling doctors and lab personnel to respond to incoming referrals effectively.
The solution
The platform offers healthcare staff a comprehensive workspace to manage all aspects of a patient’s appointment.
Staff can document appointments and treatment plans, compile referrals for tests and procedures, and issue prescriptions and sick leave notices. They can easily access the patient’s test results and medical history, including information from other healthcare institutions. Additionally, all data can be submitted to the national health portal, which is accessible to other healthcare institutions.
The workspace is organized in different views:
- The schedule view provides doctors with an overview of their scheduled appointments.
- The patient view outlines a patient’s medical history and any ongoing health issues.
- The case view contains appointments related to a specific health issue.
- The appointment view allows the doctor to record all necessary information from each appointment.
The system allows for monitoring patients with chronic illnesses or children who require regular check-ups. Family doctors and nurses can easily access lists of all patients with a specific illness or within a particular age group, enabling them to create standardized action plans for these patients.
In the tests and procedures module, healthcare professionals, such as lab specialists and doctors, can view incoming referrals, document the results of tests and procedures, and submit the information to the health portal.
The system automatically compiles customer invoices using predefined codes and forwards them to the clinic’s ERP system.
The web-based platform is accessible from any device, providing staff increased flexibility. For example, physiotherapists often use the platform on tablets during patient sessions.
The solution has been developed using the latest technologies, including .NET, MongoDB, and Angular. It exchanges information with various external systems, such as the Health Portal, Health Insurance Fund, and Prescription System, through a gateway (RestAPI).
Benefits
The system is designed to simplify doctors’ daily work, providing various benefits to both the Medicum team and patients.
- The system streamlines the workflow for doctors and healthcare specialists, allowing them to spend less time on documentation and more time on treating patients.
- The staff only needs to complete relevant fields, while non-essential information is automatically filtered out.
- The platform is designed to automate tasks and processes whenever possible.
- A thoughtfully designed user interface ensures a smooth experience and safeguards against accidental human errors.
- Standardized fields and pre-fill options enhance the harmonization and quality of documentation.
- This web-based application can be used from any device, including mobile phones and tablets, whether during patient sessions or outside the office.
- Its modular structure allows for easy maintenance and modifications with minimal disruption, enabling the adoption of individual modules as needed rather than the entire platform.
- Innovative and user-friendly IT tools create an attractive work environment for healthcare staff and help draw in young doctors who prefer modern systems over legacy ones.
Work with Helmes
Healthcare is a strictly regulated industry, and as a custom development provider, we make sure that the IT systems we build comply fully with all regulations. We also prioritize the secure handling of sensitive health data according to established guidelines.
If you’d like to know more about our experience in the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors or how digitalization can benefit your company, please get in touch with us.
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