UZA – Trauma department
Contribute automates and hosts the trauma registry for UZA using Oracle Cloud services. Every minute saved could make the difference between life and death.
- Company
UZA - Challenge
Patient information was previously stored in local files. To gain recognition as a level 1 trauma center, there was a need to professionalize the documentation and administrative process. - Solution
A custom-built application, developed using Oracle APEX and hosted on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
Contribute automates and hosts the trauma registry for UZA using Oracle cloud services.
At the trauma center of Universitair Ziekenhuis Antwerpen (UZA), every minute gained could mean the difference between life and death. Contribute, a company within the Cronos Group, developed a custom Oracle APEX cloud application to maximize time savings when registering a trauma incident, ensuring that critical information is recorded quickly and accurately.
UZA is a leading university hospital that excels in clinical and patient-friendly care, academic training, and scientific research. It offers 38 specialized medical services, with more than 600,000 patients visiting each year. UZA employs approximately 2,800 staff, including 400 doctors and 1,400 nurses. The UZA IT department has 90 permanent staff, 18 of whom form the team responsible for functional applications. This includes a broad portfolio of administrative and medical applications, both custom-built and purchased. In early 2018, UZA became the first hospital in Belgium to receive international recognition as a level 1 trauma center for adults and children.
A level 1 trauma center must have the capacity to simultaneously treat two major trauma cases around the clock, such as a patient severely injured in an accident or someone requiring resuscitation after a heart attack. Treatment at UZA takes place in multiple resuscitation rooms, supported by a blood product supply and a dedicated trauma operating room. A specialized medical and paramedical team provides initial care, after which patients are transferred to other hospital departments for further treatment.
Seeking streamlined registration
Previously, the trauma center stored all patient information in local files. However, to gain recognition as a level 1 trauma center, professionalizing the documentation and administrative process became essential. “When a patient arrives at the trauma center, there is a team of eight people around the trauma table: doctors and nurses – each with a very specific task,” says Guy Lodewijks, ICT manager for functional applications at UZA. “It is critical that the team documents every action taken, not only for the patient’s continued medical care, but also for the administrative processes involved with their admission.” This includes billing for the hospital as well as reporting under European guidelines.
“The local file was an enormous spreadsheet,” explains Guy Lodewijks. “It consisted of no less than 360 fields, which the team had to fill out manually.” The trauma team approached the ICT department asking if part of this work could be automated. Contribute, a company from the Cronos Group specializing in Oracle and application development, had previously developed an application for the Forensic Medicine department using Oracle APEX. “It made perfect sense for us to consider the combination of Contribute and Oracle APEX for the trauma team as well,” says Guy Lodewijks.
Quick response
The team can act much more quickly in relation to the patient. Previously, after closing a case, there was still manual administration. “This is no longer necessary, so the team no longer falls behind administratively. Additionally, the quality of the information has improved. Thanks to integration with other systems, manual data entry and the risk of errors, are a thing of the past.”
Efficiency through DevOps
Contribute was able to work quickly and flexibly thanks to their DevOps approach. They not only developed the application but also handled its management, monitoring, and maintenance on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. This enabled Contribute to quickly adapt and ensure secure operation. In addition to set up and infrastructure, security was given a lot of attention. The environment is automatically monitored, and regular health checks are performed by Contribute, ensuring the application remains secure and efficient.
Trauma registry is safe in the cloud
Contribute not only developed the trauma registry but also manages, monitors, and maintains the application on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). “The IT infrastructure team has chosen to focus on the core applications of the hospital in its own data center,” says Guy Lodewijks. “It makes sense to host a smaller application like the trauma registry in the cloud.” Moreover, now that UZA sees this process being performed in a high-performance and secure manner, fully compliant with the regulations the hospital must adhere to, the trauma registry is helping to strengthen confidence in the cloud. “Our experience with the combination of Contribute, Oracle APEX, and OCI has been very positive,” concludes Guy Lodewijks. “I can imagine that over time, we will replace more applications built in Access and Excel with custom APEX solutions.”
The combination of Contribute, Oracle APEX, and OCI cloud provides the trauma center with substantial time savings, which is crucial in these challenging times.
Guy Lodewijks, ICT-manager functional applications UZA
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