Issue

Ghent University Hospital (UZ Gent) is one of the largest and most specialized hospitals in Flanders. With nearly 7,000 employees, UZ Gent provides quality and highly specialized care in all medical disciplines.

From paper to digital

UZ Gent has been using QuestManager since 2022. The IT department coordinates the implementation of QuestManager within the medical services. The department always works at the request of a medical department, but also shares knowledge with other medical departments.

For proper implementation, they watch over these priorities:

• Patient-centeredness: before implementation, the added value to patients of using digital questionnaires is assessed. It is important to share those benefits with the patients so that they are motivated to complete the questionnaires.
• User-friendliness and integration: it is important for the patient to be able to find all the information within an easily accessible portal. UZ Gent uses a patient portal where patients can consult information about their condition and treatment. The questionnaires are part of this. . Patients can complete the questionnaires within the portal and also view the results there. So all the information is neatly bundled together.

The patient portal is equipped with the national login mechanism, the Belgian Federal Authentication Service, which is also used by other government services, e.g. the tax authorities, banks, insurance companies, mutual insurance companies, etc. This login method is well known to citizens and works very easily. This lowers the threshold for logging in and completing the questionnaires. The UZ Gent achieves a high response rate of 65 percent.

PsoPlus: the Value Based Healthcare approach

Among other things, UZ Gent uses QuestManager for its specialized psoriasis consultations, PsoPlus®. A fine example of the Value Based Healthcare approach.

The care providers collect relevant patient data via QuestManager, whether or not based on validated questionnaires. They use that data for the integrated clinical follow-up of patients.

Benefits for patients and caregivers:

• A personalized approach: by collecting relevant patient information even before the initial consultation, healthcare providers tailor their approach precisely to patients' needs and context. This helps to develop personalized treatment plans. In the case of PsoPlus, the information is collected via questionnaires in QuestManager. From the answers, healthcare providers derive a number of indicators. Through the application, they also share information about self-care and other instructions with the patient.
• Optimization of resources: collecting information in advance makes consultations more efficient and leaves more time to address the specific needs of patients.

• Recognizability: all departments of Ghent University Hospital use the patient portal my.uzgent.be. So many patients are already familiar with the portal. They find information there from all the departments where they are followed up.
• Process change: digitizing questionnaires is a complex process. The implementation must be carefully thought out in advance. It goes beyond replacing a paper questionnaire with a digital version. The entire process, from inviting patients to analyzing the data, is digitized. For this process to succeed, it is important that the medical services embrace the method. Proper implementation ensures more efficient and accurate collaboration, improves the quality of care and saves costs.
• Collaboration between multiple stakeholders: patients, those around them, medical specialists and patient associations are involved in the implementation. In this way, the process is worked out optimally and matches the treatment as closely as possible.

Future

UZ Gent wants to further develop extramural care because the healthcare landscape is changing due to staff shortages and limited financial resources. But the hospital does not want to compromise on quality. QuestManager is an important tool for this transition. UZ Gent therefore wants to further expand the use of QuestManager.

What are the benefits of QuestManager?

Using QuestManager has benefits for the hospital, the specialist and the patient. For thehospital, it is an efficient and reliable way to share information and collect data about the patient. That data is used to give healthcare professionals a better understanding of patients' healthcare needs. The outcomes help make a consultation efficient. More time is freed up for topics that really matter to the patient. Even before the first consultation, thespecialist has a view of the patient's well-being and can estimate in advance in which areas he needs help. Thus, the patient can be helped in a targeted way , tailored to his needs.

Other strong features of QuestManager at UZ Gent:

• Extensive integration possibilities with an existing patient portal.
• The ability to automatically prepare questionnaires without additional actions by healthcare professionals.
• Styling within the QuestManager environment can be adapted to the look and feel of UZ Gent.
• Smart QuestManager dashboarding that helps healthcare professionals focus on the correct outcomes of a completed questionnaire.
• Wide range of options for building sophisticated questionnaires.
• Far-reaching data extraction and inclusion into existing medical systems.