A junior doctor in the U.K. is driving the development of a smartphone app that lets healthcare providers jettison their legacy pagers to communicate just as quickly but much more thoroughly and productively.
Pediatrician Lydia Yarlott of the National Health Service tells Forbes some 10,000 NHS staffers are already using the app and finding it can save nurses and other users up to 45 minutes per shift.
Yarlott also says AI is frustratingly underutilized.
“Artificial intelligence can now diagnose skin cancer better than humans can, and analysis of data at scale can lead to insights we wouldn’t have imagined,” she tells Forbes contributing writer Nicholas Fearn. “But we’re not making the most of these technologies while we’re still siloing data on paper and legacy systems.”
Yarlott explains that the app, called Forward, may help reduce readmissions, coordinate home-based and reassure patients as well as healthcare professionals.
“I am proud to still be a doctor in one of the best healthcare systems in the world,” she says. “But the absence of something as simple as a technical solution to allow you to find a colleague and ask them for urgent advice is extraordinary and dangerous.”
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Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.