In the modern age of medicine, breakthroughs and discoveries have allowed humans longer lifespans and better quality of life than ever. However, while there are new innovations, there are also new challenges that modern medicine must face. One of the most prevalent challenges is the inability to run a medical facility. Many countries across the globe feel as though they simply are unable to efficiently run their hospitals. So, what could be holding some of the hospitals back?
One perspective is how hospitals are regulated. As the level of patient care is generally expected to get higher as time goes on, hospital regulations are becoming more strict to match this social expectation. For example, blood products in Norway must reach wards within 15 minutes. While this policy is not necessarily bad in and of itself, it puts a lot of pressure on hospitals to rigorously follow this regulation. Despite the regulation being put into place, the hospital infrastructure itself has not been upgraded to allow them to more easily meet this regulation.
Another major factor that is holding hospitals back is the actual number of hospital staff executing patient care. The National Nurses United organization suggests the optimal ratio of nurses to patients is 1 to 5. However, it is estimated Ireland has around 1,366 per 100,000 inhabitants or a ratio of around 1 nurse to 73 patients. It gets even more desperate in countries like Greece, where that ratio goes to around 1 nurse to 457 inhabitants. Unfortunately, this problem is only expected to get worse as the number of people 60 or older will reach around 1 in 6 by 2030. In turn, this has led healthcare staff to feel like they have heavy workloads, unfair pay for the level of work, and overall poor working conditions.
Another issue contributing to the unpreparedness of hospitals across the globe is the rising digital aspect of hospital operations. While technologyhas existed, it is not implemented uniformly across the globe and that is being exploited by certain malicious parties. It is estimated that 67% of healthcare organizations across the globe were affected by ransomware attacks. In Europe, it is estimated that 2 in every 5 ransomware attacks on the health industry were targeted as hospitals specifically. Similarly, China and the UAE are seeing cyberattacks on the rise in recent years.
The financial aspect of how expensive hospitals are to run is having a substantial negative effect on hospitals as well. As many as 1 in 5 hospitals could be considered high-risk for defaulting on their financial debt. A 2024 study determined that hospitals in European countries are continuously running a fiscal deficit and even problems with insolvency. Japan sees this issue in a much higher proportion as 90% of public hospitals operate at a financial deficit there. Similarly, Hungary and Australia have hospital debt that reaches 300 million euros and $1 billion USD respectively. This major lack of funding also ties into healthcare workers feeling that they are underpaid for the amount of labor they provide.
Fortunately, there are some ways to fix some of these issues. Pneumatic tube systems across hospitals would not only serve to make hospital work less tedious, but it would also greatly increase efficiency and safety. These tubes work by allowing healthcare professionals to load the tube and enter the destination for this tube on a touchscreen interface. From there, the tube is automatically routed to the most efficient pathway to arrive as fast as possible to the intended destination while being managed by delivery management software. From there, the healthcare professional is able to accept the delivery by simply swiping their badge to confirm their identity.
Fortunately, this tube system offers solutions to a lot of problems affecting hospitals worldwide. One of the largest problems with regulatory pressure on hospitals was simply that the infrastructure could not keep up with the level of regulations on hospitals. However, this problem is greatly alleviated by having these tubes transport both documents and various hospital products at rapid speeds. Furthermore, because these tubes require minimal human input and can move items faster than a person can, it helps relieve some of the burden on overworked healthcare workers. The physical transmission of documentation is also more secure and less vulnerable to online attacks and high-speed pneumatic tubes can help save hospitals money by decreasing the amount of salary spent on just transporting documents, drugs, or other hospital products. Best of all, the lack of human interaction also cuts down on the amount of bacteria being transmitted by the physical transmission of items like blood products, cell growth inhibitors, or paperwork.
Ultimately, hospitals across the globe are already working at maximum capacity. The increasing number of aging citizens is forcing hospitals to adapt the way they operate to ensure that patient care can be adequately handled. By upgrading hospital infrastructure with pneumatic tubes, hospitals can more efficiently, safely, and easily transport items across the hospital.
Source: Swisslog