SEHA vaccination centre-1658132762830
Residents wait for their turn at a SEHA COVID-19 vaccination centre in Abu Dhabi. Picture for illustrative purposes only. Image Credit: Virendra Saklani/Gulf News Archives

Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi has automated a number of patient experiences at its public health-care facilities, managed by Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (Seha).

In a statement, Seha said the transformation of patient experience includes the installation of self-service kiosks and patient flow management systems at outpatient clinics, laboratories, diagnostic centres and pharmacies. The systems have reduced patients’ registration and check-in time from 10-20 minutes to less than a minute and they automatically check for insurance approvals, patient eligibility and payment requirements.

The updates have been carried out in collaboration with Saudi digital solutions provider Sedco and its Dubai-based strategic partner, Emitac.

Seha said the new self-service machines allow electronically pre-booked patients to check-in, cancel or reschedule their appointments. Patients can update their patient information and even schedule the next appointment at the end of their visit.

Patient flow management

The machines also function as ticketing kiosks, enabling walk-in patients to get queueing tickets. This patient flow management solution streamlines walk-in and pre-booked patients and sends mobile notifications to patients with appointments. Meanwhile, the smart digital signage displays queue information on screens to guide patients to the right clinics, floors, doctors’ chambers.

Patients can also use self-service machines to check-in for pharmacy, laboratory or radiology services and pay the by card. All these services can be carried out without the assistance of an employee, thereby freeing up Seha staff to attend to more critical tasks.

‘Self-service machines’

“We are immensely proud to collaborate with Seha to provide a seamless journey to patients. For a more convenient experience, our self-service machines include KYC [know your customer] features to identify patients through their Emirates ID card or mobile number, saving the patients the hassle of manual data entry. Powered with interactive dashboards and advanced reporting system, our solution allows Seha management to centrally monitor each health-care centre, operation and KPI [key performance indicators], such as service quality, utilisation and turnaround time. The system then generates strategic reports to take future decisions to provide exceptional health-care services, while ensuring better resource allocation and strategic planning to enhance efficiency of its facilities,” said Majdi Al-Beit Shawish, chief executive officer at Sedco.

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‘Caring for patients’

Dr Marwan Al Kaabi

“We are continuously looking for ways to elevate the quality of our services and enhance the overall patient experience across Seha health-care facilities. As part of our smart health transformation, the self-check-in system has immensely facilitated the accessibility to care for our patients. We are happy that we have partnered with Sedco to implement the smart kiosks as a trusted supplier,” said Dr Marwan Al Kaabi, Seha group chief operations officer.