As the raging COVID-19 outbreak has had wide-ranging, devastating impacts, hospitals have had to earnestly adjust themselves to cope with the dire situation, especially amid the sudden surge in patient numbers.
Given the limited resources, including medical personnel and equipment, effective patient screening systems are essential.
Severe cases must be hospitalized under close surveillance, whereas patients with only mild symptoms may be treated in a ‘hospitel’ at designated hotels. COVID-19 patients staying in hospitels also require treatment and care in accordance with good medical practices.
Recognizing this problem, Praram 9 Hospital has teamed with KASIKORN Business-Technology Group (KBTG) in pioneering the COVID-19 Hospitel Management Solution to help overcome this difficulty. The innovative system is designed to serve asymptomatic patients or those with mild illness who can register for medical treatment at Praram 9 Hospital, while also facilitating healthcare personnel in conducting risk assessment of patients in accordance with screening criteria and standards to ensure that proper and timely medical treatment will be administered.
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Wittaya Wanpen, M.D. Assistant Director, Praram 9 Hospital, said that Praram 9 Hospital offers the hospitel service or a special inpatient ward for those with asymptomatic or mild COVID-19. These patients are in the ‘green’ patient category, and their key symptoms are fever, dry cough, runny nose, sore throat, a loss of sense of smell or taste, red eyes, skin rash and diarrhea.
Because such patients have had difficulty in finding an appropriate hospital, Praram 9 Hospital has discussed this matter with KBTG, Thailand’s leading tech company, in order to work together in developing a service system that allows them to get medical treatment at a hospitel.
This collaboration sparked the launch of the COVID-19 Hospitel Management Solution, being one of Praram 9 Hospital’s digital hospital projects, which uses technology to offer the most efficient medical treatment and thus help patients weather the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ruangroj Poonpol, KBTG Chairman, said that KBTG has initiated the COVID-19 Hospitel Management Solution, which is the first of its kind in Thailand, for Praram 9 Hospital to facilitate patients with asymptomatic and mild COVID-19 symptoms (‘green’ patient category).
Patients and their relatives can register for medical treatment, check their health coverage and complete a risk assessment form before their hospital visit via the LINE application, @praram9hospital.
The hospital will contact them within 60 minutes to arrange for an ambulance to take them in for admission, conduct a full risk assessment in accordance with screening criteria and standards, and administer medical treatment at a hospitel, or hotel designated for treatment of COVID-19 patients.
Patients must report their condition and notify the hospital of their daily routine, such as performing temperature checks, monitoring blood pressure and measuring blood oxygen levels, via electronic Know-Your-Customer (e-KYC) and chatbot. Praram 9 Hospital is the first hospital to develop the co-innovation with KBTG.
Ruangroj added that, the COVID-19 Hospitel Management System will facilitate the treatment of patients and allow healthcare personnel to assess patient risk in accordance with screening criteria and standards, before administering efficient and effective medical treatment at a hospitel.
This system will help to minimize risk of physical contact between healthcare personnel and patients, limit the scope of the outbreak and reduce paperwork since all the necessary data has already been entered and submitted via LINE to the hospital’s database.
KBTG would be proud to share this innovation with interested hospitals nationwide for usage with individual LINE OAs. Interested hospitals can contact the KBTG development team at [email protected].
