A Ringing Cell Phone as a Driver for Quality Improvement

Raluca Zoitanu, Daniel Stan

Keywords: digital health, practice software, patient access

Introduction:

During the covid pandemic, the constant ringing of the cell phone in a GP practice in Bucharest, Romania led to the creation of a digital tool that optimizes the communication between doctors and their patients using traditional channels familiar to them, such as telephone, email and web.

Method:

The system consists of two main components: a virtual IVR telephony system and an online portal for information and appointments. Other channels can be added, such as Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger or SMS. The goal is to reduce the number of telephone calls by converting them to online appointments or by informing the patient directly through the doctor’s personal info portal.
The idea behind it is that much of a doctor’s or a nurse’s time in solo GP practices in Romania is wasted over the phone taking appointment requests, offering simple information such as working hours and services available or repetitive communication about flu and COVID19. As much as one hour per day can be saved just by optimizing the non-medical communication.

Results:

Femyo, the first digital tool of its kind co-created by a Romanian GP and a tech start-up, is now used by more than 100 doctors starting with early 2020, covering 22 counties from all regions of Romania. Over 150,000 patients currently have access to the system.
Interviewed doctors have reported between 10% and 40% conversion of patients that used to call the practice to patients that use online appointments. This is linked to how much is the doctor willing to enforce the system and how disciplined he is in avoiding to use communication channels that don’t go through the system (most often the doctor’s personal phone number).

Conclusions:

The system is successful in reducing the non-medical workload, with some limitations in analyzing the data. Patients are very satisfied with the new system.

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