(I-Newswire) November 21, 2009 - Healthcare providers and commissioners face a variety of pressures. A new white paper “Transforming Healthcare” shows how support tools can simultaneously address multiple challenges, improve performance and benefit patients. Successful experience of early adopters of the affordable approach described suggests large increases in healthcare productivity could be achieved.
The approach uses a new way of managing information, knowledge and best practice, and associated tools to support the training, updating and practice of healthcare professionals. It also ensures compliance with relevant procedures, regulations and standards and can help break down barriers between parts of the healthcare system.
According to Prof. Colin Coulson-Thomas the white paper’s author “Implementation is manageable, affordable and achievable. Benefits include better engagement with patients, greater understanding, more consistent diagnosis and referral, reduced costs, quicker responses, faster dissemination of improved practices, less stress, higher standards of patient safety and care, and enforced and evidenced compliance.”
The safety and well being of patients is a primary requirement, and the management and mitigation of clinical and other risks is a key task of the boards of healthcare organisations. According to Coulson-Thomas “Levels of risk could be significantly reduced by the use of diagnostic and treatment support tools that incorporate checks and balances that would prevent certain situations from occurring.”
Coulson-Thomas’ recent books have shown how knowledge-based tools can provide practicing professionals with easy access to the information and knowledge they require, and day to day support to help them adopt the approaches of high performers when confronted with difficult tasks. They can also be designed to raise professional standards by enabling users to learn with each application, while on-line up-dating ensures they stay current with regulatory and other developments.
The white paper introduces support tools that can suggest appropriate clinical pathways, giving practitioners quick access to continually updated information and helping them to prepare a cost-effective treatment plan. A single, easy-to-use framework can provide the information, tools, evidence, and procedures health professionals need to investigate, understand, and treat or control a medical condition.
According to Coulson-Thomas “Innovations involving treatments are easier to spread when practitioners are supported by tools that help them to identify when and where they could be relevant. Building in specific questions to ask and relevant requirements and regulations can help ensure that new treatments are used appropriately and properly applied. Practitioners can learn from the experience of others.”
The white paper points out that the cost of support tools can be less than what can be saved by preventing just one patient from suffering a stroke. The benefits of a clinical pathway tool include right referral to the right place at the right time, potentially decreasing referral rates; improving clinical governance as patients end up on the right pathway and ultimately in the right place for secondary care.
A support tool could also be useful for teaching medical students, speeding up induction, enabling the easy provision of information to patients, and overcoming procedural problems. Tools can be regularly and centrally updated with new guidelines. Increased speed of diagnosis and referral means more patients can be seen.
Coulson-Thomas believes “Support tools are ideal for working with patients to increase their understanding of their own health and options for improving it, and involving them in both prevention and treatment. Doctors can assess the requirements of individual patients, identify and select preferred courses of action and generate any documentation that may be required. Built in checks can ensure they do not generate requests that do not comply with regulatory and other requirements.
The Professor believes “Many of the most pressing problems of health services could be addressed by the systematic use of relevant support tools. Experience suggests significant reductions in healthcare costs could be achieved without compromising – and indeed enhancing - patient safety, standards of care, and the patient experience.
Cost is not a barrier. Individual tools are affordable for a single provider.”
The new approach appears a cost effective and largely risk free means of raising quality, disseminating innovation, and increasing productivity, while reducing cost and stress. Assessment and treatment activities to be undertaken more quickly and effectively at lower cost while enhancing patient safety and care.
Coulson-Thomas is clear “The healthcare system touches almost all of us at some point in our lives. It can be transformed to make it much easier for doctors and nurses to work with each other and patients to ensure people live longer and live well.”
The new white paper ‘Transforming Healthcare’ can be obtained from http://www.cotoco.com. Examples of how knowledge-based support tools can help average professionals adopt the superior approaches of high performers can be found in ‘Winning Companies; Winning People’ by Colin Coulson-Thomas, which can be obtained from http://www.policypublications.com.
Prof. Colin Coulson-Thomas chairman of Adaptation has re-engineered end-to-end healthcare processes, and been the process vision holder of complex transformation programmes. He has served on healthcare boards at local and national level. The author of over 40 books and reports, he has helped over 100 organisations to improve director, board and corporate performance, and has spoken at over 200 national and international events in 40 countries. He can be contacted via http://www.coulson-thomas.com and his recent books and reports can be obtained from http://www.policypublications.com.
About Adaptation Ltd:
Overview
Adaptation Limited is a specialist director, board and business development consultancy which develops and implements corporate programmes and processes to enable organisations to become more flexible and adaptable in creating and delivering value to their customers. Hundreds of organisations and thousands of individuals have benefited from approaches, methodologies, programmes and courses the company has developed.
Adaptation helps people and organisations to transform their performance in areas such as winning business, building customer relationships, and creating and exploiting know-how. It has particular expertise in supporting boards, reviewing processes and practices for winning business, building new models of organisations and introducing more creative and fulfilling ways of working and learning.
The dictionary defines 'adaptation' in terms of change or adjustment to new circumstances, ie. a change in structure, function, process, role, attitude, behaviour, etc., that produces better adjustment to the environment. The company Adaptation has helped directors, boards and management and entrepreneurial teams in locations from South Africa to Siberia and from Canada to China.
Services
Adaptation services to corporate clients committed to fundamental change include:
Strategy Reviews and Strategic Business Development
Corporate Transformation
Corporate Learning
Business Restructuring and Redesign
Executive, Director and Board Development
Coaching of Senior Executives and Directors
Knowledge and Process Management
Winning Business Reviews
Business Development Services
Clients
Adaptation clients include multi-national, international, European, North American, Middle Eastern and Japanese corporations, international professional firms and consultancies, entrepreneurial businesses, Government departments and public bodies.
Assignments include over 100 winning business reviews, process vision holder roles, director and board development activities, the re-design of the management processes of a well known financial services company, reviews of re-engineering and change strategies and programmes, and various board and strategy reviews. A portfolio of Presentations, Courses and Seminars are based upon this work
Adaptation has developed a complete range of corporate transformation assessment and review techniques, and implementation tools and methodologies, including a suite of process re-engineering tools, for a well known international company. Several thousand consultants in a leading international consultancy firm employ a techniques/tools manual edited by Adaptation.
Publications
Prof. Colin Coulson-Thomas of Adaptation led and co-ordinated the European Commission's COBRA project which examined how organisations across Europe use process management, new ways of working and learning, and emerging technologies. Resulting methodologies include "The Responsive Organisation: Re-engineering new patterns of work" and "The Competitive Network" published by Policy Publications.
Findings of surveys undertaken by Adaptation for national, international and Governmental organisations have been disseminated through over 30 research reports, thirteen books, including Winning Companies; Winning People and Developing Directors, a handbook for building an effective boardroom team, and over 300 Seminars, Workshops and other Events.
Courses
Learning materials, presentations and over 20 course modules based upon Adaptation’s work and investigations into critical success factors and what high performers do differently in areas that are vital for corporate success are available for those designing corporate, executive and management education programmes.
International collaborations
Adaptation has operated strategic partnerships, and has co-operated with world class institutions covering corporate transformation and process and knowledge management which operate world-wide and across all EU member countries.
Presentations and courses have been given in some 40 countries.
Prof. Colin Coulson-Thomas of Adaptation has held professorial appointments in Europe, North and South America, the Middle East, India and China
Further information
Details of Adaptation services can be found on www.adaptation.ltd.uk
Details of publications based upon adaptation’s work can be found on www.policypublications.com
Company Contact Information
Adaptation Ltd
Prof. Colin Coulson-Thomas
Mill Reach, Mill Lane,
Water Newton, Cambridgeshire, UK
PE8 6LY
Phone : +44(0)1733361149
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