World Patient Safety Day: Keep health workers safe

1.4 million.

That is how many health care section workers who have been infected with COVID-19.

Being a health worker means putting yourself at risk to save others. It means working overtime to protect others when there is no one else to do it. It means standing in the front line without the necessary protection when there is a shortage of protective equipment. It means putting yourself at risk in the line of duty again and again even though you may have been infected once before.

The COVID-19 pandemic has unveiled the huge challenges and risks health workers are facing globally. September 17 marks World Patient Safety Day, a campaign created by WHO to create awareness of patient safety and urge people to show their commitment to making healthcare safety.

This year, the campaign focuses on health worker safety. Safe health workers means safe patients. In support of keeping health workers and patients safe today and in the future, we have joined forces with some of our technology partners to create a solution that reduces the risk of spread at hospitals and healthcare centers.

Eliminating unnecessary close contact

Limiting close face-to-face contact with others is the best way to reduce the spread of coronavirus disease. With our solution MapsIndoors we can’t eliminate the close contact between doctors and nurses testing and treating coronavirus patients, but we can eliminate all unnecessary close face-to-face contact.

Under normal circumstances, 30% of first-time visitors get lost when they visit a hospital. And when people get lost, they tend to ask for help. If coronavirus patients start wandering hospital corridors and asking non-COVID patients and staff for directions, the consequences can be severe. To eliminate unnecessary close face-to-face contact and the risk of coronavirus patients infecting non-COVID patients, staff, and visitors, we have developed a no-touch intuitive way for patients to get from A to B in the most efficient and safe way possible.

The solution, MapsIndoors, allows patients to click on a link in an email or text or scan a QR code on a sign to open a map of your venue. Here patients can search for locations within your hospital and get directions from their current location to the appropriate destination without needing to come in contact with staff or other patients.

MapsIndoors is built with Google Maps technology to offer users directions from their home to a test tent, treatment center, or any destination inside your healthcare complex. Profile-based routing ensures that patients who may be contaminated with coronavirus won’t be guided through areas for non-COVID patients. Likewise, non-COVID patients don’t have access to areas reserved for COVID patients and will be guided around them. 

Also hospital staff can benefit from the solution as the map gives a clear overview of important points of interest, such as where to find masks, face shields, and protective suits.

Depending on their job, you can also grant or restrict staff access to areas the different areas of your hospital. This ensures that health workers treating coronavirus patients are not guided through your hospital either.

If you want to know more about MapsIndoors, we offer a free 30-minutes webinar about Emergency Health Wayfinding. We are also happy to talk to you about your specific needs and challenges and give you an individual demonstration. Reach out to one of our MapsIndoors experts here and let us know how we can help.