Technology in action

Touchscreen self check-in system keeps GP queues moving

February 2008

Time is precious for doctors in general practice. In the UK, a typical consultation is scheduled to take just ten minutes, so waiting rooms serving a typical five GPs will see 30 patients every hour. Time is also precious for the receptionist, who has to make appointments and deal with enquiries over the phone, amongst a host of other administrative duties. Often, patients can queue for several minutes just to let the doctor know they have arrived.

GPs may have several hundred patients on their books — perhaps thousands in inner-city practices. It is unlikely the doctor or receptionist will know the patient personally, yet they rely on accurate identity information to ensure the right records go with the patient to the consultation.

Identifying someone unambiguously requires three separate items of personal information — usually date of birth, address, and first and last name. Many people are nervous about giving this information out in front of a queue of strangers. Added to that are possible communication difficulties with people whose first language is not English, and there is added potential for identity confusion.

One solution is to provide patients with a self check-in facility via touch-sensitive screens in the waiting room. Leeds-based Innovations in Technology Ltd offers a complete package for GP practices.

The touchscreen links to the practice's primary care software, with the software's inbuilt patient check-in module being deployed straight into the touchscreen monitor. As patients arrive in the surgery, they are presented with a series of simple questions on the screen to verify their identity. They are then assigned a colour code corresponding to the doctor with whom the appointment has been made.

When the GP is ready to see the patient, the screen flashes that colour, alerting the patient to make their way to the doctor's consultation room. This process eliminates the privacy issues of public address announcements, as well as overcoming language barriers.

Touchscreen technology

The application is a demanding one for the monitor. Screens get a great deal of wear, and have to display a bright, clear image that is easy to read, even by visually impaired patients. Innovations in Technology has chosen the MicroTouch ClearTek II Capacitive Touch Screen technology from 3M Touch Systems to provide the best combination of benefits.

Although there are many ways to sense touch, capacitive touchscreen technologies are the most popular choice today, offering fast and accurate touch performance, physical durability, excellent light transmission, advanced anti-glare properties and high reliability.

Francesco Fasoglio, European Marketing Manager, 3M Touch Systems division explains : “Unlike resistive overlays, where a flexible top layer makes contact with a rigid bottom layer when pressed, capacitive touch technologies are genuinely free of moving parts, making them inherently more reliable. Moreover, where resistive touch sensing requires two electrically conductive coatings, capacitive overlays make do with one layer or a very thin conductive coating, allowing more light to pass through. Hence a brighter, clearer picture.”

The screens feature an additional hard coating to protect them from wear and tear caused by contaminants, abrasion and continuous touches to the same spot on the screen. This coating allows at least five times more resistance to wear than other capacitive sensor solutions. Equally important, it can cope with aggressive cleaning including anti-bacterial agents.

As well as the touch technology used, the properties of the glass layers also affect the overall user experience. The capacitive touchscreens offer high levels of light transmission. Anti-glare coatings reduce reflections that impair image quality, and an optional special light-control film is available to offer medical centres a further level of privacy. The film provides increased confidentiality to end-users by reducing the viewing angle to 60 degrees.

The touchscreens give a better user experience, evidenced by the quick user acceptance of these user-friendly terminals. To date, around 30 patient check-in systems have been installed in surgeries from West Yorkshire to Nottingham and Bedfordshire.

“The patient arrival system has improved patient confidence as they feel more empowered and in greater control of their consultation with the doctor,” says Chris Bolland, Head of Informatics, Bradford and Airedale Primary Care Trust.

“In addition, GP surgeries have benefited from reduced patient waiting times by removing the administration pressure from the front reception area, allowing staff to deal with direct patient care and patient emergencies, as required. At a time of modernisation and emphasis on providing greater efficiencies within the healthcare sector, this prioritisation of human resources is extremely important.”