Individualized information videos for improved Patient Education

The Cantonal Hospital of St. Gallen (KSSG) is the central hospital in Eastern Switzerland. As one of the largest hospitals in Switzerland, it provides basic care for the population of the city of St. Gallen and the neighboring regions as well as central functions for the inhabitants of the entire canton of St. Gallen and several neighboring cantons.

In addition, the Cantonal Hospital of St. Gallen offers officially recognized basic, advanced and further training in all medical disciplines represented. It also participates in pioneering research projects and meets university standards in terms of both care and quality.

Challenge: Time-consuming educational discussions not very patient-centered

Informing patients before a medical procedure is a legal requirement. They receive a lot of information in a short space of time during an informed consent discussion and must then sign to confirm that they have been informed about the upcoming procedure and have understood the content of the discussion. These discussions are a stressful situation for patients. In addition, the information conveyed verbally varies depending on the experience of the doctors providing the information. Due to the analogue and often ad-hoc information situation, Patient Education has so far offered little room for standardization, which has been proven to be beneficial. At the same time, doctors experience such appointments as a repetitive and time-consuming task.

In order to improve patient information, the KSSG was looking for a modern solution for standardized Patient Education that would free up time and personnel resources.

With the help of the medudoc platform, individualized patient videos can be created in a time-efficient manner at the Cantonal Hospital of St. Gallen and made available to patients before procedures.

Operation was tested as part of a pilot project with selected interventions. After successful completion, the application was transferred to regular operation and extended to other interventions.

“The patient videos are user-friendly and very easy for doctors to use. The feedback from patients is excellent. The video information of standardized procedures represents a REAL added value and should contribute to a positive image of the clinic.”

– Dr. Thomas Steffen, Deputy Head Physician
General, Visceral, Endocrine and Transplant Surgery

Solution: Individualized information videos for location-independent and standardized patient information

To this end, the KSSG first identified the most frequently performed procedures for which educational discussions are necessary. These include procedures in general surgery, neurosurgery, orthopaedics, urology and ophthalmology. medudoc then developed medical and patient-centered video content together with the doctors in the specialist areas.

Using medudoc’s modular platform, they can adapt the information videos to specific patient needs, such as gender, indication, surgical procedure, risk profile or side operated on.

Doctors receive a modular video suggestion based on the individual patient data. Using the modular principle, the attending physicians can select which modules are relevant for the explanatory discussion.

In this way, patients receive an individually tailored video that can be watched as often as required, regardless of location. This means that relatives can also be flexibly integrated into the process. Any unanswered questions are then clarified in a brief personal consultation with a specialist.

Result: Information videos make everyday work easier and improve Patient Education

The findings from the accompanying studies revealed the following measurable improvements:

• The use of medudoc’s digital video platform has significantly increased the quality of Patient Education.
• The treating physicians were able to save up to 15 minutes per consultation.
• A total of 276 patients were informed about upcoming procedures via video as part of the pilot project. They rated the service with 4.9 out of 5 points.
• Personnel resources were significantly relieved.

The standardized, digital information process increases the quality of Patient Education. The hospital can ensure that patients receive all the important information about an upcoming procedure, regardless of the experience of the doctors providing the information.

At the same time, repetitive activities in Patient Education are significantly reduced. Thanks to the platform’s ease of use, it takes just a few seconds to create an information video, depending on the level of customization.

Over 92% of the doctors at the KSSG who took part in the pilot phase would not want to do without it in future. The time saved gives them valuable resources for diagnostics, treatment or other administrative activities, for example.

For its modern Patient Education with medudoc, the KSSG also received the Quality Crystal Award in the category “Promotion of patient competence in the area of health, illness and healthcare”, which is awarded by the Swiss insurance company CSS and recognizes the KSSG as a modern and innovative hospital.