Eksote hospital district magazine - a patient experience story

South Karelia Social and Health Care District (Eksote), the endoscopy care unit, streamlines patient care with the help of Buddy Healthcare's care coordination platform and a patient engagement mobile app.  Anni Toikka is one satisfied mobile app user who received care instructions digitally.

Since August, patients undergoing endoscopic procedures at South Karelia Central Hospital have had the exciting option to download an app through which the hospital will instruct them in preparations for their procedures. The South Karelia Social and Health Care District has started testing the BuddyCare Care Coordination & Patient Engagement Platform, which digitizes the endoscopy care unit’s patients’ care pathways.

Anni Toikka from Lappeenranta, a city in Finland, is one of the patients who has used the patient engagement mobile app. She downloaded the app from the Play Store and logged in with an activation code, which she had received in her appointment booking letter. The app provided instructions on how to prepare for the procedure. Anni also submitted her pre-assessment form via the app.

“The app was very convenient to use. It had a timeline and reminded me of what I was supposed to do and when. The day before the procedure, for example, the app reminded me of where I had to go and at what time exactly. Being a forgetful person, these reminders were helpful”, says Anni. 

South Karelia Social and Health Care District’s Service Manager Merja Lampinen says, “We are not planning on totally giving up supporting patients with traditional phone calls and letters if needed, but we want to offer mobile app guidance as it belongs to the modern world. Our goal with the app is to make patients’ preparation easier and reduce pre-procedure calls from patients.”

Team Lead Katri Toivakka explains that “downloading and using the mobile app is suggested in a patient letter to all patients who will be receiving endoscopic procedures. However, if there is a patient who doesn’t want to use the app, it’s okay. The letter also includes instructions on how to proceed in this case.”

Buddy Healthcare's care coordination platform is in use in many other hospital districts than South Karelia Social and Health Care District. “The platform is very beneficial for care coordination purposes for the outpatient clinics that have a large number of surgeries and small operations like ear, nose, and throat diseases.”, says Toivakka.

Positive and encouraging patient feedback

Anni Toikka describes herself as a heavy mobile app user. Using the BuddyCare app was natural and easy for her. Anni felt she could navigate the app quickly, but the pre-questionnaire was a bit challenging as it had many questions.

“Patient safety is very important for us, and therefore we ask many preliminary questions. The questions have been prepared in close collaboration with doctors,” Lampinen emphasizes. "We have also received new development ideas from our customers. Some patients have shown interest in digitizing all care pathways within the hospital." Lampinen continued. 

"Even though the system isn't fully integrated into the hospital networks, it provides other benefits. For example, a nurse can monitor patients' progress through the dashboard. The platform also makes sending messages to patients easy," says Toivakka.

Lampinen concludes that "different specialty care units in the hospital are interested in expanding the app and platform use. Until then, we are collecting valuable data and feedback to measure the solution's effectiveness."