Electronic whiteboards improve the acute surgical patient admission process

Electronic whiteboards have largely replaced the use of traditional whiteboards in many hospital departments. They are used to electronically record and display a variety of patient information to streamline the admission process and the quality of handover between relevant staff. We assessed the impact of such a system upon the patient admission process in a busy general surgery department.

A survey of 12 qualitative questions was completed by surgical registrars working within a general surgery department in 2013 prior to the introduction of electronic whiteboards and again in 2016 after introduction. The questions compared the satisfaction of the admission process before and after its introduction.

There was an improvement in staff satisfaction with the admissions process after the introduction of electronic whiteboards (78% vs 9% high level of satisfaction, p<0.05). A statistically non-significant rise was also seen in individual areas of the admissions and handover process. No change was seen in staff attitude to security of patient details (50% vs 42% high level of satisfaction, p=0.671).

Electronic whiteboards assist in the process of admitting patients to a general surgical department. This strengthens the case for the introduction of electronic whiteboards across a range of hospital departments.