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Indian hospitals work on rapid adoption of digital systems to reduce risk of medico-legal complaints. Handwritten, paper-based forms are reported to have error rates as high as 50%, impacting clinic and operating room efficiency, plus potentially resulting in litigation. At least 65% of filed cases are due to improper or incomplete consent. Recently, National Consumer Disputes Reddressal Commission (NCDRC) made it evident that obtaining consent in a pre-printed consent form is an unfair trade practice.
According to Dr. Nitendra Sesodia, senior director, medical communication & corporate sales, Thieme EIDO Healthcare, hospitals in the country are pacing up to implement patient management systems, medical record management tools, e-consultation applications, pharmacy operations tools, ERP software and HMIS systems.
As digital health service provider, Thieme has seen that the Covid pandemic created tangible shifts from apps and hardware around medical and emergency care.
Digital informed consent adoption is equally important as healthcare providers have successfully starting engaging in online services along with better resource planning and cost-effective measures, said Sesodia.
The current healthcare digital technology paradigm shift brings new technological advances including cloud-based infrastructure, AI-based applications, and blockchain technology. Many Digital solution providers offer wide-ranging options for data management by facilitating the secure transfer of patient medical records, managing the drug supply chain, and facilitating the safe transfer of patient medical records. Innovations in patient aggregation, surgical care, diagnosis, radiology, quality enhancement, patient experience, and process improvement are likely to emerge. Collectively they will improve healthcare service quality, reduce insufficiencies and expenditure on personal healthcare, hasten deliverables, and improve accessibility, outputs, Sesodia told Pharmabiz.
It is here, Thieme improves patients' experience and protects hospitals against litigation. We have put in place quality and consistency of documentation, eliminate illegible or misplaced forms, and enhance patient safety through an easy-to-use method to obtain patient informed consent, he added.
We have been able to ensure that hospitals are able to sustain good clinical practice and adhere to legal requirements with easy to understand information to seek informed consents, said Sesodia.
Thieme reduces the risk of medico-legal complaints that arise due to misunderstandings between doctors and patients about their procedure/treatment. It is a paper-light solution with patient activity tracking, and captures queries for discussion with the medical team together with maintaining time and engagement records.
It is important the clinicians and patients working together need to use a robust and intuitive digital platform to have a clear understanding of the risks, benefits and alternatives to the proposed treatment. The company has over 400 procedure-specific peer-reviewed consent information documents plus photo-realistic audio-visual simulation of procedures and is endorsed by Indian Medical Association (IMA), Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, and England. Moreover these solutions for medico-legal consent are developed by clinicians for clinicians. Thieme has 20 years of experience in supporting clinicians and shared decision-making where it has ensured both efficiency in making records for informed patient consent, said Sesodia.
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