Boosting Efficiency in Nephrology Department Management with Cellma – A Comprehensive Solution.

Nephrology and renal services play a key role in the management of patients who have kidney diseases as well as those requiring dialysis and renal transplants. The management of these patients requires careful documentation, regular appointments, managing medications, and ongoing monitoring. In the challenging landscape of the nephrology and renal department, RioMed’s Health Information Management System (HIMS), Cellma, provides a complete solution for nephrology and renal services to enhance efficiencies, patient outcomes, and health care delivery within the Nephrology and Renal Service departments.

What is Nephrology?

Nephrology is the area of medicine dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of kidney disease. This subspecialty incorporates the management of chronic kidney disease (CKD) indicators, acute kidney injury (AKI), renal replacement therapy i.e. dialysis, kidney transplantation, as well as electrolyte disturbance. Nephrology doctors work alongside various forms of providers to ensure that patients receive coordinated care focused on their particular problems; this includes timely dialysis appointments and medication adjustments.

According to Kidney Care UK, around 7.2 million people in the UK are living with chronic kidney disease (CKD stages 1-5). Of the CKD population, an estimated 3.25 million people experience advanced stages of CKD (stages 3-5) when symptom management becomes complex. It has been observed that at least one third of all people in the United Kingdom, with kidney disease will develop some forms of psychiatric symptoms associated with their health condition, with depression being the most common. 

The challenges of providing care for the nephrology departments are: 

• Monitoring of patient’s vitals  

• Increasing requests dialysis access counselling  

• Management of follow up appointments   

• Data integration across departments, and facilities  

• Facilitation of doctor / patients’ referrals and reconnecting with post discharge  

• Timely availability of diagnostic information and reporting    

• Care and/or major treatment plans provided to the patient 

How Cellma Assists

Cellma is designed to assist departments with their unique challenges. Cellma has a one patient, one record system that collates all the patient information including medical history, treatment plans, laboratory results and a dialysis schedule, in one location. This system-wide access allows authorised users from different areas and locations, to view, and update, and respond to patient information and monitor changes. Cellma ultimately improves the accuracy and efficiency of the care provided. 

Here is how Cellma can increase the efficiency of the management of nephrology department: 

Tailored Plan for Each Patient

Cellma has the functionality to tailor treatment plans for each patient, all of which can include individualised specific dialysis schedules, medications, dietary recommendations and other lifestyle modifications, and all of which are crucial elements in the management of kidney disease. 

Integrated Data Transfer 

It is critical to have no delays in the transfer of essential information such as lab tests and imaging results for patients on dialysis and in requiring close monitoring care. The ability to connect to external clinical systems using FHIR HL7, HL7 and messaging protocols allows for easy transfer of diagnostic data so that patients with chronic progressive kidney disease do not continue wait for information they need.  

Real – Time Monitoring and Alerts 

Cellma’s in-built alert functionality allows for real time monitoring of lab results and patient vitals. Staff and patients can be alerted to an abnormal vitals or lab result, so they are empowered to act and do something about it. Alerts and reminders for appointments, dialysis durations and medication schedules can be automatically sent via email or text to patients, family and caregivers to ensure timely communication of important information.  

Patient Assessments   

The pre and post dialysis assessment is streamlined within Cellma’s platform. Nephrologists can use custom forms to capture patient information and a thorough assessment which will aid the health care professional in determining what type of dialysis is required or if a referral is necessary.  

Video Consultations   

Video consultation functionality of Cellma allows the nephrologist to consult with the patient regardless of whether they are face to face in real time follow up care needs and assessments. This functionality removes the burden of travel for follow up.  

Cellma brings together everything needed for administrative tasks and clinical management for patient care. Cellma can integrate across different hospitals departments to ensure that health care providers have access to important patient information with quick clicks. 

Here’s how Cellma enhances nephrology care with its modules: 

Patient Administration and Scheduling (PAS) 

The PAS module of Cellma improves the administration of patient referral, appointment, and dialysis schedule management from the same electronic platform. Also, in Cellma, appointments can be booked using the web portal or app reducing some of the administrative burden on the clinical staff. 

Electronic Patient Record (EPR) 

The EPR module allows clinicians to capture detailed information about each patient, including a patient’s medical history, test results, treatment plans and everything in between. With the EPR module patients can confidently expect the same type of care in each facility without needing to reconfirm their medical histories. 

Lab Module 

The lab module of Cellma allows clinicians to order, track and report laboratory tests easily. Nephrologists can manage all pathology requests, reports, and findings associated with their patients’ records through Cellma in their institution. 

ePharmacy Module 

Through the ePharmacy module of Cellma, prescriptions are managed more seamlessly with the hospital’s pharmacy. Also, all medications and dialysis supplies are tracked through this module to ensure that medications are in-stock and ready to administer, while also estimating that each unit has enough stock for all dialysis patient sessions. 

Imaging Module 

The imaging module of Cellma captures and incorporates all imaging related to kidney diagnostics such as ultrasound and CT scans into the patient record. This supports clinician-patient discussions about the diagnosis based on current information not previous. 

Referral Module  

The referral module allows secure coordination of patients referred to other departments or other nephrology specialists for continuity of care and therapy initiation without treatment delays.

Document Management 

Important documents associated with a patient’s care such as dialysis consent forms or patient care plans are stored through Cellma. All documents can be accessed, shared amongst providers, and updated to ensure health professionals have access to current information. 

Theatre Module  

The theatre module supports surgical intervention, with managing dialysis access creation or kidney biopsies and once integrated in with medical records managing postop monitoring and follow up care.  

Wards and Bed Management Module  

The wards and bed management module in Cellma is developed to assist hospitals to optimise their hospital resources, by providing live real-time data of bed occupancy and patients status. The module manages live ward capacity, staff levels, live bed status and planned & emergency admissions in the inpatient population.

Business Intelligence and Reporting Module 

The Business Intelligence and Reporting module delivers valuable insight into the nephrology departments function and potential improvements to the nephrology departments and the hospitals operational efficiency, by using advanced analytics and reporting tools. Cellma is able to provide clinical, managerial and financial reporting of all data stored in your organisation, by using the powerful Business Intelligence and Reporting module.  

Conclusion

Cellma’s fully integrated modules and real-time data access provides full-featured solution to nephrology and renal service departments, seamlessly connecting patient administration with dialysis scheduling, and at the same time enhancing care plans personalised for every patient.  

Interested in saving time and improving care with Cellma? Book a free demo today to see for yourself how Cellma can improve your workflow and patient care experience.