The anatomy of an intelligent hospital

We are already used to the fact that adding the word "intelligent" or "intelligent" in front of a familiar, everyday thing takes a leap towards something more modern. Smartphones and smart televisions are commonplace; talking about smart locks or smart homes doesn't leave the person you're talking to head spinning. But what does it mean when you get the prefix "intelligent" - and what does using the prefix require from hospitals and care institutions?

Western health care is going through significant changes. In many countries with a high standard of living, the population is living longer than before, which, in addition to its many positive aspects, means increasing diseases of old age and pressure in the direction of nursing homes. Many of the processes in hospitals and other health care facilities are old-fashioned and rigid, which slows down access to care and overburdens health care staff. At the same time, the need for proactive health care and patients' expectations for the service level of hospitals is growing.

By making hospitals more intelligent, we can improve time-consuming and complicated processes, streamline care chains, and improve the quality of care and the patient experience.

There still needs to be a consensus about what intelligence means concerning hospitals and care institutions. For some, it means something completely new – i.e., rebuilding the entire hospital environment in an energy-efficient way, extensively utilizing IoT networks, and adopting modern treatment methods and technologies. For example, Oulu University Hospital is being built into the "the most intelligent hospital in the world" when its old, inefficient building base will be replaced entirely by new buildings by 2030.

For others, an intelligent hospital means replacing old systems with new ones with technology companies and automating rigid processes. At Nova, a hospital in the heart of central Finland, medicines are stored in an intelligent medicine cabinet, antibiotics are dispensed with the help of an antibiotic robot, and the staff gets their work clothes clean from a clothes machine, which reduces hoarding and missing work clothes.

An intelligent hospital can also refer to taking health care solutions outside the hospital's walls, in which health maintenance is at the core of the thinking. For example, the aim is to have a preventive effect on many lifestyle diseases by encouraging people to monitor their health and optimize their well-being with the help of technology. And it's not just about sensors - an intelligent hospital that extends to the home can, in all its simplicity, also mean that a patient arriving for hospital treatment can make their visit smoother by registering and, for example, reserving a parking space in advance.

It goes without saying that rebuilding the entire hospital requires resources that only some people have access to. However, optimization and renewal do not always require huge financial or time investments. Processes can be updated to be more intelligent easily and by using the current ones. For example, an artificial intelligence algorithm can be trained to improve symptom assessment, predict medication consumption, and automate treatment path planning without heavy investments in infrastructure. Current equipment can also be used - for example, access control and patient safety can be enhanced by updating machine vision algorithms to current surveillance cameras.

Although massive new construction projects like the Oulu University Hospital are significant steps forward for Finnish health care, other hospital districts cannot afford to wait for the old to fall apart before trying something new. Fortunately, it is possible to create a more efficient, safer, and more comfortable hospital for patients and medical staff, even without millions of investments.