Hospitals, unlike other organizations and institutions, have to do a lot more heavy lifting given the important societal role Hospitals play and their diverse stake-holders: patients, government, law, personnel, and regulators, just to count a few. The following is a list of essential features that Hospital intranets should have, and what they would be used for:
Document management
Document management is the feature that lets you create, store, collaborate and share documents across your organization. It would be used in a Hospital intranet in the following ways:
- Store patient records, reports and other history in a dedicated private folder for each patient
- Provide patients access to their latest reports online
- Save legal documents
- Save essential medical forms and templates
Project management
All organizations, including Hospitals have to undertake administrative projects. Project management tools are meant to let teams coordinate projects, assign tasks and deadlines—keep the project on time, clearly let everyone know their responsibilities, and give an overall transparent view of the project.
For instance, hospitals need to regularly update quality certifications in order to meet regulatory standards. These are large projects which involve every aspect of the Hospital’s operation - procurement, administration, patient care, after care etc. Project management capabilities are a way more efficient way to manage these projects rather than using spreadsheets and emails.
Instant messaging
Speed is essential to Hospital operations. Instant Messaging means that all important stakeholders are contactable when they are required. For example Doctors, Specialists, Administrative or Front office staff. Moreover, important information like a Bill or Report might need to be transmitted on the spot. While some Hospitals continue to depend on phone calls for enabling this communication, instant messaging is vastly more efficient.
Online Calendars
Online calendars help simplify scheduling and coordination. This is essential to a Hospital running smoothly. Some ways in which online calendars can be used by Hospitals:
- Doctors lay out their schedule to be viewed by staff or even patients to check their availability.
- Out patient schedules can be laid out for patients to view
- Important internal meetings like Board of Managers or Doctor’s Panels can be managed and all stakeholders invited
Database apps
Every Hospital has unique workflows for connecting different aspects of the operation. Database apps allow the automation and simplification of these unique workflows. Some examples:
- Managing drug inventory and arranging for procurement when inventory is low
- Managing staff availability and vacations
- Managing requests for reports
You don’t need to be a developer
Large Hospitals have such deep requirements that it is probably advisable for them to hire dedicated IT teams and build an Intranet that is customized to their requirements. However, smaller Hospitals and Medical facilities do not have the resources for this luxury. Fortunately, out-of-the-box solutions like our HyperOffice is perfect to help these organizations. It helps Hospitals benefit from all the intranet tools laid out in this article, but without any tech expertise, and at a low monthly cost.
What’s next
Building and buying an intranet is a complex decision. Hopefully, the following articles will help speed up your research:
- 7 Real examples of Intranets – and what makes them a great tool for team collaboration
- 9 Intranet tools to boost team collaboration and engagement in 2018
- Intranet names toolkit: examples, lists, ideas, and a free generator!
- 10 Internal communications tools and channels you haven’t considered before — and how Intranets remain the hub of collaboration
