Can a healthcare digital workplace save lives?

In the healthcare space, efficiency can quite literally be the difference between life and death. Modern intranets supply on-call workers like doctors and nurses with critical information at a moment’s notice, helping employees reach peak accuracy and efficiency. Additionally, an optimized digital workplace can unify a notoriously segmented workforce by providing every employee with remote access to real-time updates, documents, and communications pathways through mobile capabilities. Modern intranets can also drastically improve patient experience by cutting through the silos that frequently occur between searching for care; scheduling appointments; navigating payment and billing; and receiving follow up information.

Challenges within the healthcare space

From a reliance on niche expertise to an ongoing need for hyper-accurate and updated information, there are many industry-specific considerations for healthcare organizations. Some unique challenges within the space include:

Diverse workforces

From clinical researchers to nurses and doctors to administrative staff, the range of responsibilities and knowledge points at a hospital or other healthcare facility is particularly varied. Consequently, it can be challenging to establish a sense of unity and cohesion within such a diverse enterprise. When a workforce is disjointed, information flows and knowledge sharing processes are disrupted, making it difficult for workers to get critical information when they need it most.

High concentrations of frontline staff

Healthcare organizations frequently employ an array of frontline workers, including medical assistants, receptionists and maintenance staff. This subset of workers can be especially difficult to engage, in part due to frequent communications gaps. Since many of these roles are also patient or client facing, it is particularly integral for frontline employees to feel connected and recognized for the important work they do.

Necessity for high-level accuracy

While up-to-date information is integral for enterprises in any industry, within the healthcare space it is critical. As new best practices and innovations are released, it is essential for employees to remain updated on the latest developments and scientific breakthroughs. Similarly, any misinformation or inaccuracy needs to be addressed as quickly as possible in order to prevent major disruptions, enterprise-wide risks and potential malpractice suits.

Extreme time-pressure

When medical personnel are responding to crisis situations, every second counts. Having streamlined work processes, designated communications pathways and protocols that cut through silos is integral in order to provide care at a moment’s notice.

Confidentiality is a priority 

Documents such as medical records and reports regarding hospital assets require high-grade security. Given that cybersecurity crime damage is estimated to reach $6 trillion annually by 2021, high-quality confidentiality measures are integral, especially for industries that manage sensitive information, such as healthcare.

Digital workplace features

Modern intranets go above and beyond employee portals of years past. An optimized digital workplace can serve as a centralizing hub for employees across the enterprise and provide users with a variety of nuanced tools and capabilities:

Rich social experiences

Every employee has a voice in a digital workplace, thanks to a variety of powerful and intuitive social networking tools. Features such as @mentions, #hastags, and bespoke reactions encourage workers to create and contribute to conversations and foster a sense of unity amongst geographically dispersed enterprises.

Intranet access from anywhere

Allow employees to stay connected, regardless of location, with a mobile responsive intranet. Workers can access their digital workplace seamlessly through native mobile apps and receive real-time push notifications with important updates.

Curate premium content

A digital experience cloud with a rich feature set will optimize content quality. Front-end editing capabilities make producing content efficient and intuitive while one-click translations help keep communication consistent across international workforces.

Streamlined user directories

Avoid playing a guessing game when searching for contacts with niche expertise. People directories enable employees to seamlessly find and connect with the colleagues they are searching for in a matter of seconds.

Maximize security

Control the flow of information with customizable security permissions that empower stakeholders to manage confidential content. Enterprise-grade security safeguards internal documents against potential data leaks.

Solutions digital workplaces can provide to healthcare organizations

An optimized healthcare intranet can help drive efficiency, boost satisfaction throughout the enterprise and improve patient experience by offering innovative solutions to some of the industry’s most prevalent challenges:

Unify all staff members

Digital workplaces offer one centralized hub that can bring together every facet of a global workforce through shared communications pathways, embedded social reactions and blog content designed to foster a sense of community. Team members who may never meet face to face or collaborate on projects can get to know one another through your intranet, contributing to a sense of cohesion and collaboration that spans the entire enterprise.

Increase frontline engagement

In years past, frontline employees were often left out of the loop due to a lack of desktop access. Without an engaged frontline, healthcare organizations are unable to run at peak efficiency and customer experience is likely to suffer. Digital workplaces bring everyone on board by enabling non-wired employees to access the same communications pathways as their in-office peers through platforms that are mobile responsive.

Disseminate accurate information

Use your digital workplace to share critical information and breakthroughs immediately with the help of intuitive content management tools that enable stakeholders to craft memos and updates. Instead of bombarding staff with mass-emails, team members can access pertinent information seamlessly by opting in to feeds that directly relate to specific roles.

Optimize information sharing

The ability to find true specialists in a matter of seconds is particularly integral for healthcare professionals. Digital workplaces enable users to pinpoint the best contacts for specific requests, thus expediting information flows and enabling every team member to capitalize on the knowledge base of the entire organization.

Keep confidential information secure

It is a healthcare organization’s responsibility to ensure that their client’s medical information remains protected. Cloud-enabled technologies allow healthcare workers to securely store, edit, and share sensitive patient data monitored with permission criteria to prevent compromise. Digital workplaces arm stakeholders with the ability to customize security controls and safeguard patient data against potential threats.

Make the most of digital workplace adoption

The introduction of a new intranet can be met with resistance, particularly in fields like healthcare where stakeholders may face resource constraints and many employees are already under considerable demand. In order to optimize the introduction of a new digital workplace, leaders should appoint a team within the organization to oversee implementation. Announcements should be made in order to help employees prepare for adoption and multiple training and onboarding resources must be available. Implementing user surveys or feedback forms can help stakeholders make the most of their platform by optimizing it based on employee concern and demand.

A well-organized digital workplace with a variety of pertinent channels and concise updates is often best for healthcare enterprises, as many employees will need to access information quickly and while they are on the go. Intuitive and user-centric design is key, as an intranet with unwieldy features is unlikely to be utilized by team members. While implementing a new platform requires time and resources, a nuanced digital workplace that maximizes a healthcare organization’s efficiency, employee engagement levels, and knowledge sharing capabilities can quite literally help save lives.

Does your organization's digital workplace need an upgrade?

If you are interested in creating a customized digital workplace for your healthcare organization, get in touch or request a demo today!