Efficiency and time savings to outpatient care with Fluentia’s help

In early 2022, it was still difficult to utilize information and data in the outpatient care of the City of Espoo. In cooperation with Medielli Oy, Fluentia's experts built an information management entity that utilizes Microsoft’s services, allowing the operational status to be seen at a glance.

A leadership development project in the City of Espoo's outpatient care revealed that there was a need for more efficient data management and, in particular, data visualization for the operational management teams of health centers. Different health centers had various documentation and reporting methods, and in order to access the data, employees had to request reports separately or examine status information from different systems themselves.

They wanted to eliminate unnecessary time wastage. Data should quickly show whether the situation at the health centers aligns with the goals. Have any deviations been detected in the operations that the management teams need to address?

Fluentia's experts were called in to help build a new information management system where specific metrics would indicate the level of outpatient care operations in real time.

"Our starting point was a layered management model. Information needed be made visible in different ways to different groups: top management, local management and unit management teams", explains Fluentia's expert Tomi about the project’s background.

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Long-term solution for data visualization

With the help of Fluentia, a Microsoft Power Automate based solution was built for Espoo outpatient care to automate data transfer. Alongside it, a Microsoft Power BI dashboard was created for data visualization and management.

One of the challenges of the project was the data that existed in various formats.

"Some of the data was automatically available in the systems, but some had been handwritten on paper. Data was available at different levels – daily, weekly or monthly. The dates could also be in different formats", says Pauliina, who was responsible for data standardization at Fluentia.

Once the data had been standardized, a comprehensive view named ASH Dashboard was created. It is now used to measure primarily six aspects at Espoo health stations: availability of service or care, continuity of care, effectiveness, customer experience, employee experience, and productivity.

The indicators have been selected to support the current needs of Espoo outpatient care. If and when needs change in the future, modifications can be made to the indicators, and the dashboard can be developed further. The current system is thus adaptable to future needs as well.

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Agile, smooth and fruitful cooperation

"Cooperation with Fluentia was very agile and flexible. We have received support from Fluentia for both big and small matters, and they have been understanding of schedule and personnel changes. Doing business has been easy, as the contact person at Fluentia has remained the same throughout", says Jonna Taskinen, City of Espoo Project Manager. "A big thank you also for the fact that Fluentia always spoke plain language with us. Things were presented in a way that the whole team could understand."

The cooperation is also praised by Fluentia. The project was clearly important to the City of Espoo, and Fluentia wanted to find the best indicators and solutions for the complex needs of outpatient care.

"We always strive to improve our clients' information management and thereby save on their costs", says Fluentia's team.