Diakonessenhuis's digital intake with understandable information from Indiveo

Diakonessenhuis introduced digital intake for endoscopy examinations in the MDL department about two years ago. Two years later, it's easy to see what this digitization delivers. We spoke with Joost Geesing, CMIO and MDL physician at Diakonessenhuis, about his experiences with the digital intake.

Same study with a new intake procedure

The digital intake involves patients preparing for the examination at home and giving informed consent. This way, patients only need to come to the hospital for the actual endoscopy. Patients are informed about the examination using Indiveo Divis via the BeterDichtbij app.

Patients also complete the questionnaires digitally at home. Patients can then indicate digitally that they have understood all the information, agree with it and have completed the questionnaires correctly. In this way, patients give informed consent at home.

What did the intake interview first look like?

A big difference from how the intake procedure for endoscopy used to be at the Diakonessenhuis. In the old situation, patients came to the outpatient clinic for a physical intake interview after referral from the family doctor. With the doctor, patients were told in ten minutes why they were getting an endoscopy and complex information was explained verbally. At the nurse, patients were told in three quarters of an hour what to expect and how to prepare for the examination. Then patients could then return home with paper leaflets under their arms.

"We noticed that patients did not remember the oral explanations well and that the leaflets with complex language were not sufficient to remove their uncertainty.Many patients climbed back on the phone and called the outpatient clinic with all their questions. You can imagine that a lot of our time went into this," Joost says.

Multiple results

Digital intake in most cases eliminates the need for personal contact with the patient prior to the examination. The biggest gain is thus the time freed up among the healthcare staff. This allows the Diakonessenhuis to help more patients than before. "If we still need additional information, because multiple blood thinners are being used, for example, or there is still doubt about the indication, we will of course contact the patient ourselves. But that's really rare" says Joost. "We have saved an average of 30 to 40 minutes of time per patient at the specialist's outpatient clinic and also a lot of time saved at the intake nurses' consultations."

Patients feel well informed

In addition to the time savings for healthcare personnel, it is good to see that patients also benefit from the new approach to the intake procedure. Patients are better prepared for the endoscopy and feel less insecure when they arrive at the hospital. "The feedback patients give about the digital intake, both verbally and via Indiveo, is almost all positive," said Joost. "You notice that it is clear to patients what is expected of them and what to expect." Patients feel well informed using the Divi and no longer feel the need to call the outpatient clinic themselves prior to the examination. The number of calls from patients to the outpatient clinic, with questions about their upcoming endoscopy, has dropped dramatically.

Divi's sharing

With an automated Chipsoft HiX link, it was easy for the Diakonessenhuis to make Indiveo part of the work process. In addition, it was easy to combine with the BeterDichtbij app and the EPR. Within a few months, the entire digital intake process was set up and ready to be used.