Knowledge database
Welcome to our SHIFT Smart Hospital knowledge database! This serves as a central source of knowledge and inspiration for all healthcare professionals and service providers - i.e. in particular for hospitals interested in the digital transformation towards the smart and liquid hospital.
The sub-projects (A.1 to D.4) provide insights into their results and findings via knowledge contributions and thus ensure that the knowledge generated as part of SHIFT is integrated and disseminated sustainably. These knowledge contributions deal with relevant questions and problems that hospitals are generally confronted with and provide answers that need to be considered in the context of digital transformation.
It is a dynamic database that will grow in knowledge over the coming years. So stay up to date and browse what our sub-projects have to report.
Pillar A: Tech-Foundation & Knowledge Integration
Pillar A deals with two important enablers for the project. On the one hand, in A.1 with the provision of a technical and secure data and integration middleware to connect the application (sub)projects with the hospital IT in a standardised and seamless manner. On the other hand, with A.2, this pillar offers an organisational and knowledge-based opportunity to centrally network the results and findings and make them accessible.
A.1: Tech-Foundation
Integrate and operate healthcare data securely in the cloud
The implementation of Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) solutions in Swiss hospitals marks a decisive step towards digital transformation in…
IoMT in Swiss hospitals: increasing efficiency and sustainable cost management
The Swiss healthcare system faces the challenge of driving forward digitalisation in a targeted manner in order to increase efficiency and quality of…
FHIR in the healthcare sector: Basics, use and challenges
The digital exchange of healthcare data is still associated with numerous challenges, such as fragmented IT systems, a lack of standards and an…
openEHR - From data silos to interoperability
The healthcare system relies on efficient electronic data exchange in order to provide patients with the best possible care and enable innovation.
Container Technologies in Swiss Hospital Operations
Digitalization in healthcare requires new, flexible IT solutions. Particularly in hospitals, conventional systems reach their limits when modern…
FHIR and Health Middleware: Pathways to Real-Time Data Integration in Hospitals
This article builds on the introduction to HL7 FHIR as a standard for interoperable data exchange in healthcare and explores technical and…
Pillar B: Seamless Patient Path (SPP)
Pillar B explores new possibilities for individualised treatment that allows for the shortest and most comfortable hospital stay possible while keeping the risk of complications and therefore treatment costs low. The technological focus here is on mobile sensors, also known as wearables. Wearables can supplement today's conventional selective recording of vital parameters by trained personnel and enable new treatment processes, which we are investigating in three sub-projects.
B.1: Wearable-based continuous patient monitoring
Vital Signs and the Evolution of Patient Monitoring Systems
The four key vital signs routinely measured in clinical settings are body temperature (BT), blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), and respiratory rate…
How can early warnings score improve care?
In the previous article, we explored the challenges hospitals face in the timely detection of patient deterioration and the validation of effective…
Bringing Wearables to the Hospital: Infrastructure Requirements and the Role of IoT
As wearable technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, its integration into healthcare is poised to transform hospital operations.
Wearable Technology: The Future of Hospitals
The healthcare industry is undergoing a transformative shift towards more efficient and patient-centric care.
B.2: Hospital in Motion - Preventing complications through activity monitoring in hospital
How can hospital associated disabilities be reduced?
There is now increasing evidence that hospitalisation can have a negative impact on health, especially in older patients. Impairment of functioning…
Hospital in Motion: motivating movement with a digital assistant
Lack of exercise among patients in hospitals is a common problem - and this is precisely where an innovative solution comes in: A wearable-based…
How do I make my patients part of the solution (co-creation)?
Actively involving patients in the promotion of movement (co-creation) can significantly improve their recovery and satisfaction. Collaboration…
How can physical activity reduce the readmission rate in acute hospitals?
Lack of physical activity during hospitalisation often leads to complications and increases the risk of patients having to be readmitted after…
Expanding the skills of specialist staff for the effective use of wearables in everyday hospital life
In hospitals, patients' lack of exercise often leads to complications and slows down the recovery process. As there is no dedicated specialist…
B.3: Hospital @ Home - smooth transition of patients from hospital to home through the use of telemedicine and technology
Hospital@Home: An innovative model for improving patient care in the home environment
We are currently hearing and reading a lot about Hospital@Home (H@H). But what exactly is it? In this article, we explain what exactly is behind the…
SHIFT-Hospital@Home pilot study
In order to ensure seamless care after discharge from hospital and thus achieve increased safety, innovative approaches and treatment pathways are…
Telemedicine as part of Hospital@Home
The "Hospital at Home" (H@H) concept offers a way to meet the existing challenges in the healthcare sector. It enables patients to be cared for in…
What are the advantages of Hospital@Home?
In Hospital@Home, patients receive medical care in their own homes. What are the advantages of this new form of treatment, and who primarily benefits…
Patient-Centred Assessment of Well-Being: PROMs and PREMs
In today’s dynamic healthcare landscape, specific forms of patient surveys such as Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) and Patient-Reported…
Pillar C: Patient & Staff Empowerment (PSE)
Pillar C increases efficiency, personalisation and high-quality med-tech solutions that will shape the hospital of the future. The sub-projects in this pillar provide technological solutions aimed at equipping hospital staff with tools that enable them to provide patients with more personalised care, use expensive medical systems more efficiently and actively participate in the development of their own software systems.
C.1: Improved self-management with virtual reality companions
RealCo - Virtual Reality Companion for patients with chronic renal failure
More than 30 years after science fiction author Neil Stephenson [1] coined the term "metaverse", the vision of shifting our social interactions into a…
Virtual reality and conversational AI to supplement patient education in chronic disease management
Chronically ill patients, such as people with chronic kidney disease (CKD), have a great need for effective education and counselling. Targeted…
C.2: Reduction of idle times of MRI systems in radiology departments through the use of AI-based scheduling software - MRIdle
MRIdle – from data collection to real-live intervention, to reduce appointment no-shows at the radiology ward
No-show appointments in healthcare lead to wasted resources and poor patient outcomes.
Learnings from Silent Live Testing in a Hospital Environment
Before using predictive models in a hospital setting, it is essential to understand how they might function in practice. For this, we performed a…
Intervention Targeting Beyond Risk Prediction
While prediction models can identify patients at high risk for no-shows, or more generally any adverse events, not all of these cases may be…
C.3: Artificial intelligence-based software factory for MedTech applications
Towards digital health software development democratization for non-software developers with the LEMON assistant
Democratizing digital health software development is essential for advancing successful digitalization processes within healthcare organizations. This…
“It’s Not Just Developers”: Why Modelling Assistance Must Fit All Roles in Low-Code/No-Code Software Development for Digital Health
Low-Code/No-Code software development isn't just for developers. The roles involved in digital health LCNC application development are diverse—and so…
Modelling Assistants Under the Lens: What the Current Landscape and Gaps Mean for Digital Health Software Development using Low-Code/No-Code
Modelling assistants can accelerate Low-Code/No-Code development, but over 50% fail to report key information like limitations and evaluation metrics.…
Software Traceability: A Key Concept for LCNC Software Development Creating Software Models that Match Requirements from Patients, Practitioners, and Stakeholders
Software traceability ensures that stakeholder requirements—including those from patients and practitioners—are properly reflected in the software…
Modelling Assistance in LCNC Software Development: Towards a User-Centric Framework for Digital Health and Beyond
Low-Code/No-Code (LCNC) tools empower non-programmers, such as practitioners, innovation managers, and patients, to build software through software…
Pattern-Powered Requirements: The LEMON Architecture for Reusable Requirement Patterns in Low-Code/No-Code (LCNC) Software Development for Digital Health
How can requirement patterns be reused in low-code/no-code tools without being tied to a specific modelling notation? The LEMON architecture…
Pillar D: Management of Hospital Systems (MHS)
Pillar D deals with aspects of the ideal organisational design of a hospital in a digital world. Hospitals are highly complex networked systems that need to be intelligently controlled and managed. Accordingly, new forms of management and technological solutions are sought that reduce the growing complexity and fulfil the multi-layered needs of patients and employees.
D.1: Intelligent management of networked hospitals - a digital simulation game
How do I make learning attractive for my employees?
Lifelong learning is required in order to keep pace with the latest innovations in the smart hospital of the future. This article discusses how the…
Technical realisation of an interactive turn-based online learning game
Interaction is the key to a successful learning game. It promotes active learning, in which learners not only passively absorb information, but…
The role of culture in the success of digital transformation
Digital transformation is much more than the introduction of new technologies. Particularly in the healthcare sector, where processes are rigidly…
Process-orientated structures to overcome silo thinking: approaches for more effective collaboration in the healthcare sector
Is silo thinking a barrier to efficiency in healthcare? This article explores how siloed organisational structures make collaboration difficult and…
Communication across specialist boundaries: IT and business administration in dialogue in an interdisciplinary team
Interdisciplinary teams enable new solutions - but also bring with them communication challenges. In this project, health economists, simulation…
D.2: Innovation with impact: evidence-based innovation
Evidence-based innovation, short and sweet
#1 Why and how robust evidence can save more than "just" human lives.
#2 Kill your darlings
D.3: Demand-orientated flexible personnel capacity management in hospitals
Flexible personnel resources in nursing care - an overview of working models
The flexible organisation of staff deployment in nursing plays a decisive role, not only in terms of capacity management, but also in increasing the…
D.4: Method kit for quantifying the process potential of digital health tools
What findings do we have from the literature to assess the benefits of digital health solutions?
The increasing life expectancy of the population poses numerous challenges for our healthcare system. The European Commission assumes that the…
How do Swiss hospitals rate digital health solutions?
Digital health solutions - such as the heyPatient platform - promise major gains in effectiveness and efficiency. On the one hand, these are due to…
Process-based thinking: How can process maps help?
As already explained in the introduction to knowledge article 2, digital health solutions - such as the heyPatient platform - promise major gains in…
How do I use the D.4 method kit?
The D.4 method kit supports hospitals and digital health tools providers in evaluating the benefits of digital health solutions in a practical,…
What does a patient registration cost? Process observation as a method for determining administrative process costs - A field report
How much effort is actually involved in administrative patient registration - and how does this effort change when digital solutions such as…