Other ideas piloted at NUH

The National University Hospital formed a team about two years ago to brainstorm ideas that could make the hospital safer, more pleasant or more efficient.

The 44-bed innovation centre, also known as Ward 42, serves as a test bed for the ideas. It admits general medicine patients without highly specialised problems and who do not require surgery, said Professor Dale Fisher, the centre’s lead clinician.

Several initiatives have worked well. Nurses were empowered to refer patients for physiotherapy or occupational therapy without having to wait for a doctor.

The rehabilitation therapists found that up to 90 per cent of the referrals were necessary and such nurse-led referrals will be introduced across the hospital in the coming months.

The ward has also piloted nurse-led ward rounds and will be trying out the continuous monitoring of patients’ blood pressure, pulse and temperature via wearable devices to see if it improves safety and saves nurses’ time, said Prof Fisher.