Relieving the pressure in the ED: Our Virtual Urgent Care Program

Overcrowded, and really long waiting times – being in the Emergency department (ED) sometimes feels worse than the injury or sickness itself. At Quirónsalud, we are continuously working to improve this experience for everyone involved: our patients, their relatives, and our employees.

Our solution: combining digitalization with smart processes in our Virtual Urgent Care Program.

This program supports the on-site ED staff with a virtual visit service. Patients with symptoms qualified as low acuity are professionally consulted and treated via videoconference. Take a look for yourself at how the patient journey is designed:

1. Patient is admitted to the ED service and awaits initial assessment.
2. After the initial assessment, a digital consultation is proposed to the patients whose severity level and reason for consultation apply to be treated in this way.
3. If the patient accepts this, they are registered in the digital circuit and wait for the remote physician to be available. This waiting time for the patient is well reduced from that of a physical consultation with a doctor.
4. The consultation is carried out via videoconference with the presence of a nursing assistant next to the patient.
5. If complementary tests are required, they are performed as a priority and, when the results are available, the patient returns to the videoconference room.

6. The doctor issues a diagnosis and discharges the patient. If auscultation or intervention by another physician is required, the patient is referred to the ordinary circuit as a priority.

Evolving Emergency departments

With this program, we can ease the often stressful experience of being in the ED. So far, we have incorporated it at 12 of our Spanish clinics, with impressive results:

The patients have an improved experience with reduced waiting time and better perception of care.

The pressure on the Emergency department, and consequently on our physicians, is relieved, leading to greater capacity to attend to more serious cases.

This Virtual Urgent Care Program has already been implemented in the centers with the highest emergency care occupancy and with the greatest capacity for physician assignment.

Do you want to find out more about how we ensure high-quality healthcare services and use the advantages of digitalization? Jump to our Quality of our healthcare services and Digital transformation chapters!

* As of May 2024

Project DOME: Monitoring our environmental consumption in one system

Setting targets and working to become a more sustainable company is only possible if you know what you are looking at and talking about. Therefore, we, at Quirónsalud, brought a project to life that allows us to monitor the energy, water, and gas consumption of our Spanish hospitals in one system:

Digitalización Operativa y Monitorización de Edificios – DOME

meaning operational digitalization and building monitoring.

This project is key for ensuring optimal performance, efficiency, and sustainable building management, ultimately enhancing comfort in hospitals, and promoting the well-being of both patients and employees.

Curious about how DOME works and the benefits it brings to our environmental management? Our Director of Operational Services will explain it to you:

Do you want to find out more about the relevant environmental aspects of our business? Have a look at this report’s Environment section!

Embracing patient experience

Our patients are the core of our business. All of our decisions revolve around their well-being.

Patient experience is therefore one of Quirónsalud’s strategic pillars, focused on providing personalized medical care of the highest quality, based on respect for patients’ preferences and emotional needs, with attention, proximity, and connection.

This approach considers both the patients’ satisfaction with the care received, as well as the safety and effectiveness of the clinical processes.

The digitalization of processes supports the improvement of the patient experience. We always take a holistic view of our patients and place them at the center of our efforts when we develop digital services. We also focus on ease of use, transparent presentation of all relevant information, and a strong solution focus. In this way, we can use digitalization to improve the accessibility of our healthcare services and also shorten the treatment time in order to help our patients as quickly as possible.

The high level of personalization fosters high-level treatment outcomes and efficient use of resources. This also helps our healthcare professionals make the best use of their resources. The resources freed up are of the utmost importance in meeting our patients on a human level. We want to give our patients a warm welcome so that they feel comfortable with us. We also want to provide our patients with all relevant information about their state of health and treatments, so that they understand their treatment and we can allay their fears. Understanding, appreciation, and affection play a crucial role in a positive patient experience.

Have a look at our Quality of our healthcare services chapter to find out more about how we ensure high-quality healthcare services and manage the patient experience.