07.01.20
Kingston University students design innovative apps for the NHS
A health automation hackthon recently took place at Kingston University, bringing together 200 students, health professionals and technology enthusiasts to put forward new solutions using artificial intelligence that could help improve access to patient records within the NHS.
The nine-hour marathon of robot building, user experience (UX) design and intensive problem solving, was hosted by artificial intelligence experts Alphalake Ai and sponsored by Automation Anywhere, a leader in Robotic Process Automation (RPA).
The two international technology firms challenged Kingston University’s nursing, computer science, digital media, mathematics and UZ design students to explore how RPA could be applied to save healthcare professionals valuable time when working the hospital floor. The teams had to take into account information governance, legal and policy issues and apply technical, design, and problem-solving skills to deliver an intuitive user experience.
Neil Goodman, a consultant who is leading digital transformation at the NHS North East London Commissioning Support Unit, said optimising computer systems that can exchange and make use of information was currently a major challenge in healthcare.
“The NHS has struggled for a long time working across multiple platforms that don’t talk to each other. RPA can go a long way to solve this issue by using back-end admin bots that access multiple systems when granted the right user permissions. It means they can collect data from different systems and present it in a single-view user interface,” said Mr Goodman.
The team that was victorious designed an app that would use analytics to provide automated information updates to hospital patients and their loved ones. Families could then read real-life updates about consultant visits, scans and updates from doctors.
The winners will have the opportunity to work with Alphalake Ali to further their ideas through a Health Innovation Internship Programme, in collaboration with Automation Anywhere and the NHS.
Another proposed idea which won the event’s Biggest Impact Award was for an app that would allow electrocardiogram machines to produce digital output to be assessed by doctors on the ward via an app, removing the need for paper printouts.
The idea came from nursing student, Leanne Goode, following a work placement in an accident emergency department. She said that: “I sometimes found it difficult to find a doctor to sign off the printed result of an ECG test on a patient.
“With my app the results would go directly onto the NHS care records service system – where all patient information is stored – and a doctor could sign it off from there. This system would also pick up if there’s an abnormality and an alert would pop up to inform all the physicians in the department that there’s a potential problem with the patient.”
Image: Kingston Univeristy