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SHODEN Data management in Healthcare – saving lives through a holistic approach The healthcare sector has growing data management needs and a requirement to manage patient information securely while making it speedily available when needed and saving lives in the process. The cost of investing in Big Data solutions needs to be weighed against the value created. That’s why organisations that are faced with a challenging future from a budgetary and cost perspective should look at the Data Economics and how managing and extracting data can create value. St Josef Krankenhaus, a modern and successful hospital based in Moers in Germany, is an example of how the industry can evolve from a data management point of view. Rapid growth of the institution means that it now employs over 1150 people to provide care for patients. To support its huge data volumes securely, the hospital chose a File and Content solution based on Hitachi Content Platform and Hitachi Adaptable Modular Storage 2100. HDS was able to assess the need, examine the value the management and extraction of data could deliver and was able to show that the value created through a holistic data management approach would mean greater efficiencies and overall service, which compared to cost was far greater.
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Another example is an HDS m-health project with Hitachi Medical, whose sensors are fitted on patients to pick up heartbeat, movement and skin moisture and automatically transmit the information to a computer system. This means that the patients’ lifestyles can be proactively managed and any issues can be flagged early and addressed. Data has no meaning on its own and there needs to be a shift in how we think about the potential use of data. The possibilities of tapping into that information are endless and we can literally save lives.
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