Customer Experience
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The White and Yellow Cross is now launching its mobile mijnWGK app, for a further enhanced patient experience in the future
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Published on Monday, September 18th 2023
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In September 2023, the White Yellow Cross will launch mijnWGK, its new mobile app. This is aimed at patients and their caregivers and aims to ensure even better care delivery. This initial version makes it easy for patients to track care data. The White and Yellow Cross is working with Inetum Belgium to create an app that will enable a good patient experience through functionalities such as real-time predictions of heathcare workers’ arrival times, a chat function and AI-driven monitoring of disease progression.
An app focused on patient participation
The app is designed to support the general trend towards greater patient participation: people want more engagement and easy access to their own data. So, during the User Experience journey – an important part of designing an intuitive app – the patient was at the center. The mobile app needed to present all care data in a clear, accessible way for easy consultation. Caregivers were not forgotten either, as they, too, want to be involved in the care process and to be able to check whether healthcare workers have already done their part.
The mijnWGK mobile app was built on the Xamarin platform, a mobile development platform that makes it possible to use C# and the .NET Framework to create iOS, Android and Windows native apps. Use of this platform also means the app can be adapted quickly according to White and Yellow Cross’s future plans.
Tim Weltens, ICT & Innovation staff member at the White and Yellow Cross of Flanders, explains why they turned to external experts: “We couldn’t have done this type of development in-house. Besides, the sensitivity of the data involved means there were strict security requirements, which Inetum Belgium’s experts were able to meet.”
Gateway to an interactive patient experience
The White and Yellow Cross has great plans for the app as a way to further enhance patient experience. “Finding the time and resources to innovate can often be challenging. Inetum Belgium helps us keep a good balance between current and future development,” says Weltens.
Some ideas that are currently being explored include push notifications to patients, live updates on healthcare worker routes and a chat function. Besides being technically feasible, new features must also be embedded in internal processes, which is often the most time-consuming part. For example, if a patient sends a message, it must be forwarded to the right person internally, who then must have access to the right information to quickly and efficiently answer the question.
Lightening the workload
While the app is designed first and foremost for patients, it also benefits healthcare workers. Thanks to the app’s openness and transparency, patients become co-owners of their own care plan and their engagement increases. Common questions such as “Who’s coming tomorrow?” or “What time will you be here?” can be eliminated if patients can track their own schedules in the app. This type of expectation management will enhance healthcare workers’ peace of mind.
In the future, patients may also be able to use the app to send measurements such as temperature or blood pressure, as well. Thus, the data will be available without need for a healthcare worker to be involved. Furthermore, it can help to increase the number of measurements and give everyone involved better insight into the patient’s condition. Doctors could also listen to someone’s heartbeat remotely, for example. An AI model could even be used to detect anomalies. Closer monitoring benefits patients as well. Research has shown that patients heal better and faster when they know they are well-monitored.
Want to learn more about this fascinating customer story? https://www.realdolmen.com/nl/case-study/het-wit-gele-kruis-versterkt-via-mijnwgk-de-samenwerking-met-huisartsen-ziekenhuizen-en
Want to know more about the White and Yellow Cross and mijnWGK? https://www.witgelekruis.be/mijnwgk-online-verpleegdossier
