Bed-Watcher System: Alleviating Urban Hospitals’ Crowded Beds

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Higher patient density in urban areas lead to higher workload especially in emergency departments (ED) of public hospitals. The bed-watcher system (BWS) was an in-house development of one of the tertiary hospitals in Klang Valley (Hospital A), aimed to facilitate staff in handling patient load in ED through better bed management. This study assesses the effectiveness of BWS in improving Hospital A’s bed management. METHODS: A mixed-methods approach was used. 3-months data from BWS and hospital reports for year 2015 (pre) and 2016 (post) were used to compare Bed Occupancy Rate (BOR), Bed Turnaround Time (BTT), number of patient transfers (PT) and Discharge Time (DT). The study also conducted In-depth Interviews (IDIs) and Focus Group Discussion (FGDs) amongst hospital staff and patients to explore their experience of bed management with BWS. RESULTS: Quantitative results showed an increase in BOR and PT from 2015 to 2016. BTT showed a reduction in performance, though DT was maintained above 90% for both years. These results imply that there was no significant improvement in Hospital A’s performance through BWS use. However, qualitative results from IDIs and FGDs indicated that BWS enhances bed management in this hospital. The staff described benefits from BWS use although issues of manpower and data quality needs to be addressed. CONCLUSION: Implementation of BWS enhances bed management in Hospital A and has potential to be scaled-up in other Ministry of Health’s hospitals.

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@proceedings{APCPH-2019-38,
title = {Bed-Watcher System: Alleviating Urban Hospitals’ Crowded Beds},
author = {Nurul Iman Jamalul-lail and MBChB and Zulkarnain Abdul Karim and Ku Anis Shazura Indera Putra and Masrol Hafizal Ismail and BEC and Zurriyati Ya’kub and BCS and Mohamad Zaidan Zulkepli and M.H.Sc},
year  = {2019},
date = {2019-07-22},
urldate = {2019-07-22},
journal = {6th Asia-Pacific Conference on Public Health 2019 Proceedings},
issue = {6},
abstract = {INTRODUCTION: Higher patient density in urban areas lead to higher workload especially in emergency departments (ED) of public hospitals. The bed-watcher system (BWS) was an in-house development of one of the tertiary hospitals in Klang Valley (Hospital A), aimed to facilitate staff in handling patient load in ED through better bed management. This study assesses the effectiveness of BWS in improving Hospital A’s bed management. METHODS: A mixed-methods approach was used. 3-months data from BWS and hospital reports for year 2015 (pre) and 2016 (post) were used to compare Bed Occupancy Rate (BOR), Bed Turnaround Time (BTT), number of patient transfers (PT) and Discharge Time (DT). The study also conducted In-depth Interviews (IDIs) and Focus Group Discussion (FGDs) amongst hospital staff and patients to explore their experience of bed management with BWS. RESULTS: Quantitative results showed an increase in BOR and PT from 2015 to 2016. BTT showed a reduction in performance, though DT was maintained above 90% for both years. These results imply that there was no significant improvement in Hospital A’s performance through BWS use. However, qualitative results from IDIs and FGDs indicated that BWS enhances bed management in this hospital. The staff described benefits from BWS use although issues of manpower and data quality needs to be addressed. CONCLUSION: Implementation of BWS enhances bed management in Hospital A and has potential to be scaled-up in other Ministry of Health’s hospitals.},
note = {Type: ORAL PRESENTATION; Organisation: Institute for Health Systems Research, Setia Alam, Malaysia, Institute for Health Management, Setia Alam, Malaysia},
keywords = {apcph2019, Bed management, bed watcher system, emergency department},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {proceedings}
}