How I Use ePlatforms in my Work
I’ve previously shared that i work as a nurse in a private healthcare clinic meaning that my main job is taking care of patients. Patient care involves much more than just nursing, we need to collaborate with various professionals, communicate about ongoing projects like development initiatives and handle multiple quality control tasks. I currently use Microsoft Office, including Word and Excel, for documentation and managing registers related to quality control. I also use Outlook and Teams for communication scheduling meetings. We also have a few WhatsApp groups for informal messaging such as sharing funny pictures or other casual updates.
Our company has an Instagram account but it is primarily used for marketing to customers. I believe we could use it more effectively to showcase our daily lives and enhance our brand for recruitment purposes for example. Personally, the only social media platform I use professionally is LinkedIn. I find it a great tool for staying connected colleagues and other professionals. Although, not many people in healthcare sector use LinkedIn even though it is essential in other industries for networking ans job searching. Most of the companies and the public healthcare sector rely on traditional tools like Microsoft Office. I think we could take inspiration from other industries and explore more creative ways to use social media and alternative digital platforms.
Social Media in Healthcare: Pros and Cons
In healthcare, digital platforms consists of a lot of sensitive personal information, requiring careful consideration when transferring to a new platform. The more the company uses social media the more risks related to cybersecurity there are.
Healthcare is highly individualized, making it difficult to share information that is universally accurate for every patient. However, I have noticed a growing trend of healthcare professionals like doctors, using social media to provide advice and share their knowledge in their Instagram account for example. When managed professionally and with education as the main focus, these accounts can serve as a reliable source of information against the misinformation. Another advantage of social media is the ability to bring people together. People are able to connect with other facing the same difficulties. For example platforms for asthma and cancer patients, where they can share their stories and experiences, providing valuable peer support.
Exploring New ePlatforms
I found several interesting ePlatforms and digital tools that could benefit my workplace. I’m particularly interested in improving efficiency and optimizing task management because healthcare work environment is fast-paced and requires (unfortunately) multitasking. I wanted to find ePlatforms that would promote our well-being by optimizing our ways of working.
The first ePlatform that caught my attention was Miro. This platform facilitates collaboration helping different health care professionals work better together in shared projects. It could allow us to create timelines and track progress without the need of a constant meetings. With Miro we could visualize our protocols making it easier to navigate in those situations. It also offers facilitation features that makes using the platform fun and engaging. If its security measures meet the requires standards, we could even use Miro to manage patient treatment plans.
The second platform that intrigued me was Monday. Monday is another project management tool that could assist with organizing different tasks and deadlines like those related to quality control. My colleagues and I rely currently on post-it notes and Teams calendar to track tasks. With a tool like Monday, we wouldn’t need to schedule as many meetings because we could see each other’s project progress from the platform. This would enhance transparency within teams and create a more structured way of working.
DeepL is an AI-based translation tool that could be beneficial in my work. In this platform, its possible to translate both speech and documents, such as home care instructions, into the patients’s native language. Now we only have English and Swedish translations of documents available, so this tool would significantly improve communication with non-English-speaking patients, for example. It is crucial to ensure that patients fully understand medical terminology and other critical instructions to provide effective care.
Another ePlatform that could improve our workplace communication is Slack. Slack is able to connect with project management tools, which would be a valuable addition to our workflow. I feel like Slack is somewhat similar to Teams in allowing users to create different channels to different topics and projects, but it’s more focused on communication and messaging by offering more features to support collaboration.
Lastly, I chose an ePlatform that could make organizational documents more engaging. The platform is called Issuu and you can create visually appealing digital documents with it. By simply uploading a PDF you can transform it into a flipbook, article, social post or even a GIF. Issuu also track the metrics, such as the number of reads, reading time and impressions to help evaluating how different visualization choices impact our staff. By making the documents more visually appealing, it increases the chances that people are actually going to read them. This tool could be used to publish the latest updates on patient care instructions and share the company news in a more effective and fun way.
Key Elements of Successful Use of Digital Applications
When implementing digital platforms or tools, there are several elements that comes to mind, which determine their success in the workplace. The platform should be easy to use requiring minimal training for staff to start using it. Another thing is that it should integrate seamlessly with the company’s existing platforms to prevent double documenting on multiple platforms and ensure seamless data transfer. The platforms should enhance efficiency and help communication, not the other way around. Most importantly, the platform has to be secure and reliable to protect sensitive healthcare data.
Self-Evaluation
I found this assignment fun and interesting! At first, I thought that I was already familiar with many work-related ePlatforms but I was surprised to discover so many new ones that I haven’t even heard of. All five ePlatforms I reviewed were new to me and I’m impressed by how much project management tools have evolved with advancements in AI. These platforms could offer great solutions to the fast-paced nature of patient care and tasks around it. With these tools, we could communicate, organize and work together as a team more efficiently than before. Of course, selecting the right new ePlatforms for healthcare requires a long and careful evaluation to make sure that the platform meets requirements and healthcare data security standards.
Thanks to this course, I feel more prepared and eager to explore and learn about the potential of digital tools in healthcare. Staying informed about the digitalization will help me adapt to the growing role of digital tools in my field of work.
Thank You for reading my blog! 🙂