January 2, 2024

How Middleware is Helping Facilities Overcome the Tripledemic

As the number of COVID-19 cases continues to ebb and flow, healthcare facilities are now facing a new challenge: the…

As the number of COVID-19 cases continues to ebb and flow, healthcare facilities are now facing a new challenge: the “tripledemic” of COVID, flu, and RSV testing. 

With the tridemic of the ongoing flu and RSV seasons compounded by the presence of COVID, healthcare facilities are dealing with an influx of patients that often require testing for multiple infectious diseases to attain an accurate diagnosis. 

Let’s take a look at some of the challenges facilities are experiencing in managing this influx of testing and how middleware can help healthcare facilities overcome the “tripledemic.”

The Tridemic

As we’ve already said, a “tripledemic” is when COVID-19, the flu, and RSV all happen simultaneously. This has led to an increased number of patients requiring testing for multiple infectious diseases. COVID testing, flu testing, and infectious disease testing can strain healthcare facilities’ resources.

The Tridemic has shown how difficult and limited healthcare services can be in “perfect storm” situations. Hospitals are too busy, making it very hard to diagnose and treat chronic illnesses that are just as bad or even worse. 

“I think long-term, we have ground to make up when it comes to caring for our chronically ill population… so that they’re no longer the victims of neglected care because of the urgency of the pandemic.”Dr. Bill Messer, Oregon Health & Science University

Although the tripledemic is a “three-alarm fire,” untreated, non-pandemic illnesses are frequently the less visible but equally dangerous “gas leak.” Both need to be addressed with the same level of urgency. 

This goes far beyond overloading testing labs and hospital beds. What do you do with the mountain of results that come back? Sadly, the most common “fix” administrators are left with is to overwork medical staff and turn them into data entry experts. 

In addition to underutilizing their abilities, it can lead to massive burnout. The good news is that there are solutions that can prevent this from being a recurring event. 

Changing Ways of Working

Traditionally, more testing means more time spent entering test results. This can lead to burnout among healthcare workers. It’s important to find ways to reduce burnout so that healthcare workers can continue to give patients good care.

Another factor is accuracy. With the increased number of tests being conducted, the probability of errors rises. We don’t want to stress about errors, so finding ways to reduce them ensures that patients receive an accurate and timely diagnosis, which is essential for providing quality care.

That’s where middleware comes into the picture. 

How Middleware Can Help

Middleware refers to software that acts as a bridge between different systems and applications. It allows different software programs to communicate and share data with each other, even if they were not specifically designed to work together. 

This can help reduce time and errors in test results by making it possible for different systems and applications to talk to each other and share data without human intervention. This allows healthcare providers to access and share patient information more easily, improving patient care and streamlining operations.

By automating some tasks and making it easier for systems to share data with each other, these tech solutions can also help healthcare workers spend less time entering data. This can free up healthcare workers’ time to focus on patient care.

One example of a middleware solution is Relaymed. Our software connects your point-of-care testing devices to your electronic health record (EHR) and automatically matches test results to orders.

It’s a powerful tool that can reduce staff burnout, increase accuracy, and get personnel back to the business of patient-centered care. 

The “tripledemic” of COVID, flu, and RSV testing has shown how difficult and limited health services are right now. Middleware solutions like Relaymed can help hospitals deal with the “tripledemic” by reducing mistakes and saving time. This allows healthcare providers to focus on providing quality care to patients.

Want to learn more about Relaymed and how middleware can help your practice? Sign up for a quick 15 minute demo!

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References: 

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home

https://stories.camden.rutgers.edu/tridemic/index.html

https://www.opb.org/article/2023/01/11/disease-expert-whats-next-oregon-covid-flu/

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