Dubai: Ever heard of a hospital where paramedics use Google Glass to transmit live video and audio from an ambulance to a doctor in an emergency room? Or a CT scan and MRI suite where you can customise the ambience by choosing from different decors?
Well, all this and more has become a reality with the launch of the first of its kind digital hospital in Dubai Healthcare City.
Giving the media a tour of the newly opened Dr Sulaiman Al Habib Hospital on June 9, Nasser M.A. Al Huqbani, the hospital’s president, said: “The 200-bed hospital of the future with its technology partner GE Healthcare has employed next generation equipment for diagnosis and treatment, many of which are the first for the region, to make digital administration and patient management central to its operations.
“The hospital has been designed to enhance patient experience right from the moment he enters it, through discharge and subsequent follow-up.”
Unlike conventional admission norms, the hospital scans the patient’s ID and takes his biometrics. Even the consent form is digitalised.
A highly advanced Hospital Information System (HIS) feeds all patient data from the various equipment to a centralised system which can be accessed by authorised doctors at any point anywhere.
The highlight is the radiology department’s MRI and CT suites, where an otherwise anxious patient is immediately put at ease when he is given a range of 11 themes on an iPad to customise the ambience of the exam room. Each room includes ‘organic’ walls, preserved in their natural state, to provide a lasting visual experience. The patient can also experience images on a large screen mounted on the ceiling. As an extra personalisation, patients can select music from their own media library.
Besides the cutting-edge wide-bore MR, Digital X-Ray and ultrasound solutions, the hospital, originally from Saudi Arabia, also has GE’s latest cath lab systems, which offer a high level of flexibility and image quality combined with low dose technology to benefit patients.
