Enhancing patient admission efficiency through a hybrid cloud framework for medical record sharing

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Cloud Computing
• Internet of Things

Background:

• Patient data fragmentation across healthcare institutions impedes timely and effective treatment.
• Isolated electronic medical records (EMRs) limit data exchange, preventing comprehensive patient history access.
• Inefficient data access in critical care settings like emergency departments (EDs) compromises diagnosis and treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a hybrid cloud architecture framework for seamless and managed EMR exchange.
• To enhance operational efficiency through integrated fingerprint authentication and IoT vital sign monitoring.
• To evaluate the proposed framework's impact on clinical workflows and patient care.

Main Methods:

• Developed a system-level, multi-layered hybrid cloud architecture.
• Integrated fingerprint authentication using hashed identifiers for patient identification.
• Utilized an Internet of Things (IoT) bracelet for real-time vital sign monitoring.
• Conducted discrete-event simulation using OMNeT++ with real ED data from Saudi Arabia.

Main Results:

• Consistent reduction in average patient waiting times observed.
• Treatment durations remained stable across evaluated scenarios.
• Increased patient throughput demonstrated by the simulation.
• Improved EMR management and streamlined clinical workflows.

Conclusions:

• The proposed hybrid cloud framework enhances EMR accessibility and management.
• Integrated security and monitoring features improve operational efficiency.
• The system shows significant potential for optimizing time-critical healthcare environments.