Overview
The Klinikum der Universität München (University Hospital of Munich) consists of 45 clinics, institutes and departments. This, along with its 9,000 employees and 2,200 patient capacity, makes it one of the largest hospitals in Europe.
The highest standards are expected from a hospital of this caliber, in every department. Workflows, like treatments and medication of patients, must be traceable, and processes must always be streamlined with cost pressures increasing constantly. To maintain the quality of patient care, reductions can only be made in terms of administration costs. Therefore, the use of intelligent data management and mobile data capture are fundamental. Mobile computers have always been the device of choice for University Hospital of Munich to perform these procedures.
The Challenge
When the devices employed became no longer available, the hospital decided to develop a new solution. “We were looking for a high quality system with an optimal price-performance ratio. The new product also had to be similar to the old product for easy integration,” indicated Christoph Schmidl, Project Manager at CSG Computersysteme GmbH. In fact, integrating established processes and interfaces into the new system represented the toughest challenge. Implementation of the new system would require extensive experience and know-how.
Solution
“After careful consideration, we selected a batch solution that included the Memor™ mobile computer and a special custom software that allowed the mobile computers to be integrated into the existing system easily so the entire staff could get to work right away without time consuming training,” continued Christoph Schmidl. The Memor mobile computers also provided other advantages, such as a large on board memory and a user accessible SD card slot to backup data and manage large databases. In particular, the staff noticed not only the device’s excellent performance, but also felt less fatigue due to the Memor mobile computer’s ergonomic design and light weight.
The complete solution was tested as a pilot project at University Hospital of Großhadern. Due to its success, today every department of the University Hospital of Munich uses the Memor mobile computer. The mobile devices, software and ERP-System are all interconnected and ensure smooth processes from beginning to end.
The administration process starts by assigning material costs from patient treatment to a single account. The operator scans the barcode on the materials such as bandages, ointments and the like to identify the cost center, case number and material number of the product. Then, the quantity of the product used is entered in the Memor unit, which transfers the information to a computer that processes it in SAP. To avoid double counts, the original data is overwritten. Finally, all the material numbers are assigned to their product descriptions and cost centers and the total value is calculated so costs can be precisely recorded and repeat orders can be initiated automatically.
Results
“The highly customized batch solution with the Memor mobile computer meets the required standards of the hospital precisely and offers a fantastic price-performance ratio,” explains Christoph Schmidl. The Memor mobile computer reads all common barcodes including GS1 Databar, which is used frequently in the hospital. In addition, the terminals can store many more data records than before thanks to its large memory capacity. The ergonomic and compact shape, the touch screen and Datalogic’s patented ‘Green Spot’ technology, providing visual good read confirmation, make the daily working routine comfortable, safe and efficient.
Customer: Klinikum der Universität München (University Hospital of Munich)
Industry: Healthcare/Hospitals
Application: Inventory Management
Country: Germany
Product: Memor mobile computer
Partner: CSG Computersysteme GmbH
