Tampere university hospital launched its hospital-branded, white-label mobile application to support ENT patients who were preparing and recovering from surgery.

All patient information is now personalised, timed, and delivered directly to their app. Patients receive instructions, in-app questionnaires, forms and questionnaires directly to their mobile app. It ensures patients are better informed and arrive at the right time, to the right place, and properly prepared. It streamlines the communication flow between hospital and patient, and it increases patient compliance. 

It also supported a leaner patient care pathway which means a far more simplified process and supports enhancements in information flow on other forms. For example, anaesthesia forms are now being pre-filled with the information the patient provides in their pre-assessment forms. 

The digitised process is more efficient and has improved the team's capacity using automation, with enhanced and automated communication via the mobile app requiring significantly fewer pre-surgical phone calls to patients. 

And while ENT patients use the mobile app, care personnel use the BuddyCare clinical Dashboard, providing a real-time overview of all patients' activities and progress throughout the care pathway. The care personnel at TAUH Valkeakoski Hospital can now track patients who have not completed all the necessary information before the procedure. The Dashboard also enables two-way communication where patients may contact the hospital personnel and vice versa.

• procedure information package,
• laboratory appointment reminders,
• combined preoperative assessment/ anaesthesia form,
• pre-surgery checklists and reminders such as fasting, medication discontinuation),
• postoperative instructions,
• feedback forms / PREMs.

• Significant reduction of inefficiencies associated with phone calls, mailing, and paperwork.
• Time savings, cost reductions, and better-informed patients.
• Improved ENT surgery patients’ coordination processes.
• Patients are more active and thus better prepared when they arrive for their operation. As an example, the pre-operative call was no longer necessary for those patients using the app.
• Digital and automated collection of patient questionnaires has increased the number of submitted PREMs.
• The Buddy Healthcare reporting tool helps the hospital to follow, visualise and analyse PROMs, PREMs and other questionnaires.
• Supports and follows the TAUH digitalisation strategy.
  
  

• Single-channel communication (hospital branded app) collects all needed information in one location.
• Patient materials are available 24/7, and the information can be read at their own pace.
• Timed reminders and notifications guide patients from preparation to recovery.
• Patients are better informed and aware of the next steps.
• Patients have the possibility to contact the care team from their app.
• Improved patient experience.
  
  

• Provides outpatient and inpatient treatment and performs same-day and short-stay surgeries. 
• The total number of ENT procedures is ~1000 per year.
  
• Most common ENT procedures: tonsillectomy, tympanostomy, and different sinus surgeries. 
• The hospital is part of Tampere University Hospital (TAUH), which provides specialised care services to nearly one million Finns.

• Pioneering in healthcare digitisation in the hospital environment. 
• Driving a superior patient experience.
  
• Creating cost-effective processes. 
• Investing in developing digital service models.
• Creating cost-effective processes.