MedControl replaces the fax within VGR

The Challenge of Joint Processes

“It is a challenge to work with common processes in a large organization that has completely different activities. We have everything from healthcare to property management, but it is with each individual employee that the quality and development work begins regardless of what they work with.

If all employees can record anomalous events in their workplaces, the business can fix systematic errors and we can analyze trends at an overall level to capture what is of value to many,” he says.

Collaboration with external partners

Another challenge is the quality work that takes place in collaboration with external partners, for example managing patient deviations jointly with municipalities. Many elderly patients are enrolled in municipal home health care and also at private health centers.
When a discrepancy is to be reported between different healthcare providers, confidentiality legislation must be taken into account. Today, the deviation is often sent by fax and it is neither patient safe nor effective. The data must be entered into the system from a piece of paper and it happens that the fax ends up with the wrong recipient.

Preliminary study and collaboration with Munkeby Systems

VGR conducted a preliminary study to identify what problems existed regarding communication between different health care providers. With the preliminary study in hand, Goran contacted Munkeby Systems to discuss what could be done to increase patient safety in light of current legislation and with the support of MedControl.
Was there an opportunity to separate the information that was already in the system and allow external partners to access certain parts safely?

A common solution in MedControl

Munkeby Systems was commissioned to develop a function based on each healthcare provider registering deviations around a common patient in MedControl. Goran sued the proposal with VGR's lawyers and the Swedish Data Inspectorate, and in autumn 2019 a pilot was carried out together with five municipalities and four private health centres.
The test turned out well and on February 10 this year it became an approved county common routine. Municipalities and private healthcare providers with contracts shall communicate deviations via MedControl.

Secure access and authentication

The process for registering a discrepancy is based on the fact that each healthcare provider is only authorized to see the information they have the right to access. We allow municipalities and private healthcare providers to enter our system, but their information is stored separately from VGR's own.
The other healthcare providers are authorized to record anomalies through an authenticated login service that they already use for digital communication with VGR. No one needs to send faxes with deviation reports anymore because the information is controlled correctly from the beginning via a form in the system. For VGR, the process in relation to the other healthcare providers looks the same as for internal deviations.

Adoption and training

Now VGR starts the introduction process by training all municipalities and the private health care providers with which VGR has agreements. This will increase patient safety and quality, without any major investment.
It was just a matter of a few hours of development of an existing system,” Goran says.

The role of leadership in quality work

Quality work never ends and the challenge is to get all businesses to contribute to it. VGR aims for each employee to register at least one deviation per year.
This is where leadership plays a big role, says Goran. “A manager who actively encourages his employees to register deviations also affects their willingness to do so. Often a deviation is associated with something negative, but a deviation recorded produces a positive effect, since the activity can remedy it and create a learning experience.