"Real-time Surgery Updates for Guardians" ... Development of 'Smart Hospital' Model

Ministry of Health and Welfare Selects Consortium of Chungnam National University, Seoul National University, Hallym University, and Severance Hospital for This Year's Support Project

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The construction of 'smart hospitals' that utilize information and communication technology (ICT) to facilitate communication between patients and medical staff, and connect medical services centered on the patient from surgery to hospitalization and post-discharge, is beginning.

On the 20th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that it had selected four consortia led by Chungnam National University Hospital, Seoul National University Hospital, Hallym University Dongtan Sacred Heart Hospital, and Severance Hospital as the main institutions for this year's 'Smart Hospital Leading Model Development Support Project.'

This project aims to develop and verify leading models that can enhance patient safety and improve medical quality by applying ICT to healthcare. This year, three areas of 'patient-centered communication,' intended to create a hospital environment that understands and communicates at the patient's level, were open for applications.

Chungnam National University Hospital, which is supported in the 'smart operating room' field, plans to create a system that checks the process of surgical patients moving from the ward to the operating room step-by-step and informs guardians of specific surgical situations in real time through an application. Regional hospitals connected via the web will be able to monitor the status of the operating rooms at Sejong Chungnam National University Hospital, and a separate hotline will be established to quickly prepare for emergency surgery reservations and preparations.

Seoul National University Hospital and Hallym University Dongtan Sacred Heart Hospital, supported in the 'smart hospitalization environment' field, will implement communication systems linked with patient-centered applications, artificial intelligence (AI) emergency calls, and real-time remote video, among others.

Severance Hospital, as the lead institution for 'patient and guardian education,' will create a communication system between mothers, guardians, and medical staff through a maternal care platform and actively collaborate with regional hospitals via a remote consultation platform. They will introduce an online system capable of customized education throughout the pre-pregnancy cycle and develop a postpartum care system after discharge.

The government has been supporting three fields annually from 2020 to 2025 through the smart hospital project. In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began, three fields related to infectious disease response were supported, and last year, three fields of 'patient-experience-oriented' hospital service innovation design aimed at improving patient experience were supported.

Lee Hyung-hoon, Director of the Health Industry Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, stated, "Starting this year, we plan to proceed with a project to actively expand smart hospitals nationwide, focusing on models whose effectiveness has been verified among the smart hospital leading models developed so far."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.