Shorter hospital stays: how general practitioners and home nurses keep their cool

More and more procedures are being performed in day hospitals. At the beginning of 2023, Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke increased the list from 246 to 551 different procedures. This is good news for most patients, who likely prefer to recover in their familiar home environment, possibly via telemonitoring. This requires extra planning for hospitals, but these short stays do increase the profitability of healthcare institutions. And what about primary care? Initially, the reform seemed almost unmanageable for general practitioners and home nurses, but it has since become clear that a good ecosystem of care tools makes their work much more efficient. Daphne Conings, functional analyst at nexuzhealth, explains.

‘The new regulations mean that more procedures qualify for day hospitalisation. This brings many advantages, but at the same time requires a lot of planning, both in hospitals and for primary care,’ says Conings, who previously worked as a home nurse before joining nexuzhealth. ‘It also means that a home nurse often has to provide more complex care, such as specific wound care or intravenous care at home. That’s why it’s incredibly important that the home care team coordinates this well internally and communicates clearly in the patient record. And all of this is possible thanks to the central electronic patient record. As a home nurse, you can securely view the electronic patient record via nexuzhealth consult for free. Simply update care records via a user-friendly interface with nexuzhealth pro nurse. General practitioners can then easily follow everything up thanks to nexuzhealth pro doctor. They can see at a glance which home therapy has been validated. If a patient needs complex wound care from a home nurse, for example, the GP can monitor the progress through photos without having to visit the patient.’

Short communication lines

Good communication between different care providers is very important. And, thanks to nexuzhealth pro nurse, colleague home nurses all work in the same patient record, even if they don’t have internet access at the patient’s home. Working offline is perfectly possible with nexuzhealth pro nurse, as the software synchronises as soon as it connects. ‘The eHealth link even makes it possible to send messages to other care providers easily and securely, which also results in greater efficiency and time savings: the home nurse can simply send a message and no longer needs to call (read: wait for) the GP or other care professional.’

Practical example

A concrete example immediately makes the benefits of the nexuzhealth ecosystem clear. ‘Thanks to nexuzhealth, the medication record is shared between general practitioners and home nurses. If the home nurse notices that a patient is still experiencing a lot of pain, they can easily communicate this and request an adjustment,’ explains Conings. ‘Data exchange to and from the CWS (Clinical Workstation) and nexuzhealth pro always takes place using the so-called FIHR standards. And the care goals are clear to all the care professionals involved: if the aim is for a patient to be able to wash their upper body independently again within ten days, then all the home nurses work towards that goal. And they all use the same approach as described in the record. If a patient mentions during a home visit that they won’t be at home the next day, then the home nurse can also easily pass this on – which ensures the colleague who has this patient on their round the next day won’t be left standing in front of a closed door. And what the patient especially appreciates is that you, as a home nurse, show engagement. The care record in nexuzhealth pro nurse also ensures a home nurse can immediately say that they read the patient had a less good day yesterday, for example.’

Read here how TOTeM makes it possible for patients to recover in a safe home environment 48 hours after a procedure thanks to telemonitoring.

Ecosystem delivers better care

The nexuzhealth ecosystem

Nexuzhealth connects healthcare institutions and primary care professionals with patients via the CWS (Clinical Workstation), nexuzhealth consult, nexuzhealth pro (nurse and doctor), and mynexuzhealth. This results in better care for the patient and a good information flow for care professionals. The links with eHealth and Vitalink, among others, ensure that nexuzhealth creates an ecosystem which provides more efficiency and less administrative hassle. So it’s a win-win for healthcare institutions, primary care professionals, and patients.