ePLATFORMS

The present moment in my work

I work as a radiographer in large central hospital. I have worked about two years as team leader. My team is interventional radiology team and I have 10 team members. In our department our main communication channel is Microsoft Teams. I use Teams for example to call meetings and to chat with my team members. We have shared calendar there and we use planner to coordinate tasks. I find Teams easy and quite useful tool when I handle my team leaders’ tasks. I have team members who are not used to use computer otherwise than it is mandatory and related on patient work that we do. These couple team members are not that delighted that communication channel is mainly digital. I think that everyone of us needs to practice digital skills in today´s working life and start to use digital solutions.

In my department we use mobile application called Signal that is installed on our work phones. Signal is quite like WhatsApp. For us this application is meant to be as low-thresholds communication channel. We use it if there is need for help in some workstation, if one of our medical imaging devices has broken or what ever is needed to share with whole departments nurses. Signal is quick to use and has made everyday life at work a little bit easier.

WhatsApp is another communication application we use. Using WhatsApp is unofficial because our hospital does not recommend WhatsApp as communication channel. Signal is preferred because it is thought to be more secured than WhatsApp. Still, we use WhatsApp if we need to arrange workers for emergency operations and settle schedules between radiologists and radiographers. This WhatsApp group is meant for those three radiologists and seven radiographers who works in angiography interventions.  We use WhatsApp from our own mobile phones, and it is voluntarily to join this group. Officially calls for urgent operations is done other wisely, but this WhatsApp ring helps to settle on practical arrangements and is convenient tool for that.

Our hospital and our department have Instagram accounts. Purpose is to be informational and show what kind of things happens in hospital. Instagram is good place to advertise our hospital and department. For possible new workers there can be pictures and short descriptions about working environments and staff. I do not have Instagram account on myself, and I think it is bit harm that content of these public sites is not available without signing in.

Google translator is tool that I use sometimes at work. It is not possible always get interpreter in place or even call to interpreter phone service. Google translator is at least better than nothing though I think that communication with real interpreter is better choice. Especially after ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia started there are lot more patients in Finland who needs translation services when they come in hospital.

Use of social media

Use of social media needs advisement on publications content. Especially if social media is used in professional life, it is important to consider carefully that publications does not insult privacy policy that organization has. Employers’ reputation cannot be risked either.  Possibility of misunderstanding is good to keep on mind when use is considered. If we would do content to patients, we need to realize that they might not know difference between staged situation and real life. Content should be planned to be understandable for so many people than it is possible if we want to use social media to develop our service or share information to the patients. It is not impossible that pictures or posts separates from its original context. For example, if we would take pictures on Instagram, we should keep on mind that we cannot control who can see it or on what purpose that picture might be used. At its best, social media can be good tool for developing healthcare services and improve public healthcare sectors reputation and get workforce.

Maybe in future…

First new tool that I chose is ChatGPT because I got inspired by Digi Society parts videos. ChatGPT is easy to use and possibilities of utilizing AI is limitless also in healthcare. In my daily work I think that I could use ChatGPT for example to get inform about cultural differences that might need to pay attention when I meet patients from different cultures. Learning generally would be good area to test ChatGPT as far as user remembers that answers that are directly related to patient care is good to check on reliable source. ChatGPT could be used on planning schedules and staff adequacy. I tried that by asking on ChatGPT “how many radiographers are needed to work in a CT scanning department when there are 30 patients per 7-hour shift? “ChatGPT offered simple calculation and suggested other things that need to be consider that workload is reasonable. I know that in my department our quality manager has tested ChatGPT “just for fun” but I think that in future ChatGPT or some other AI tool is used in daily work and users can be nurses, doctors, or physicians as well as supervisors.

Another interesting tool could be YouTube. Maybe in YouTube we could reach more people than in Instagram because YouTube does not require signing in. Purpose of using YouTube would be informational. We could offer there for example 3D material or videos about different kind of imaging examinations and procedures. This material could help to reduce patients’ anxiety and help to understand for example importance of following pre-preparation instructions. Patients are often concerned about radiation doses that they get from our examinations and our YouTube videos could give research-based information about radiation.

Third one is LinkedIn. It would be time to develop better networks between radiographers from different hospitals in Finland. If I would not have had my own connections to university hospitals radiographers who works in angiography, it would be hard to develop our operations when it comes to my own specialty. It might be useful to have connections to other European radiographers too. In Finland we are a bit side from middle European medical centers where they have more patients and more experience about interventional radiology. Learning from others good experiences or problems could help us to make our services and work culture better. LinkedIn is tool for get connected with other professionals. Another possible use of LinkedIn is of course to use it looking for a new job.

Fourth tool that I found interesting one is Mural. That is one that I have never heard of before. Mural seems to be useful tool for meetings idea workshops. I would try Mural in our team meeting or some virtual workshop. As far as I know, Teams does not offer same kind of digital tool like Mural is and which can be used like traditional whiteboard.

Todoist is the fifth application that I find interesting and if it would be free, I would definitely use it. This would be convenient tool also in my personal life. Todoist is task manager and to-do app. Compared to Teams planner that I use with my team on my mind Todoist looks visually nicer and I think that there are few other advantages as well. In Todoist I would have my own and my teams’ or some other groups tasks at the same page where it would be easier to visualize all tasks that should be done. Applications search tool looks also convenient. Based on applications presentation Todoist looks more flexible tool than Teams planner. I would benefit from list of daily tasks that I was supposed to do, when I have my weekly team leader working day.

Elements of successful use of digital application

First, I think that most important thing is to be aware of information security. Worker should know for example is it allowed to use specific application on work phone or organizations laptop. As far as I know, it is also important to make sure that all updates are made, and computers and mobile devices security applications are also up to date. Especially in workplaces like mine is, there should be help and teaching available on those who are not used to use mobile or other digital applications. I think that every application that is used in work life should make life easier than not just bring more things to learn and remember. When using digital applications that aim is to be communication platform, it needs consideration about what is shared and to whom.

My self-evaluation

In my workplace using of ePlatforms is quite new thing. I am interested to learn more about possibilities that digital solutions could bring on healthcare. I believe that in future we can benefit from possibilities that different kind of digital applications or tools can offer to us. I hope that these tools help us to do our work better and give opportunities to patients to involve their care. I think that in healthcare aim of using applications etc. should release time to take care of patients. Now a days it feels like working is too often watching on computer or mobile phone instead of patient. Report writing on different systems takes times and some of systems are clumsy to use.

This task has introduced me some new interesting digital applications and made me think that I should learn more about different kind of options that digital world could offer for my work life. Information security is area that I need also to learn more about. This courses tasks have been interesting but a bit difficult because topic was not that familiar for me. I do not use regularly English or at least not write on English and that was challenging.