(Rostock) In this exceptional situation caused by the Corona pandemic, medical and nursing staff in hospitals are facing the challenge of keeping track of rapidly changing events throughout the ward and making the right decisions. With the large and widespread number of admissions combined with a decreasing number of staff in diagnostics, treatment, and care, it has become difficult to maintain the optimal level of care. Accordingly, treatment times need to be spread out as evenly as possible according to severity, progression, and the current status of patients in relation to the overall picture. This demands keeping close track of as much as possible.

As part of the BDI Web-Summit for the Digital Day 2020 on the topic "COVID-19: Ejection seat into the digital future?" Fraunhofer IGD presents a compact information center for use in hospitals or nursing facilities. Health@Hand is a visual control center for visualizing health and administrative data on a virtual representation of an actual ward or hospital and clearly displaying all relevant data for staff. This allows necessary information to be comprehended considerably more quickly. Health@Hand can interact with all facility data thanks to its HL7/FHIR standard while also meeting all strict security standards for this kind of sensitive information. Whether on a PC or tablet, doctors and nurses can look at a virtual twin of the ward and know immediately where, e.g., a mobile respirator currently is and have access to all digitally available data on a patient, including live vital signs.

At its current stage of development, a series of functions is being added to help in times of heavy workloads. Users will also be able to monitor areas outside the building, such as a temporary treatment area. Additionally, a traffic light system for a patient’s infection status as well as an overview of staff on hand are being incorporated, allowing Health@Hand to be used in emergency and crisis situations as the central control station to aid in decision-making and analyze data. Here, all information needed to assess the situation and make a decision come together in one spot, allowing critical situations to be resolved sooner and tasks to be completed more smoothly. The time saved can be spent on the treatment of patients.