Amphia Hospital

One central system for delivering better care

Amphia is a modern Dutch hospital where quality of care is of paramount importance. To ensure this high-quality care in the future, Amphia decided to use a single tool for all its supporting departments. This helps them streamline their internal processes, and, more importantly, provide better service to their end user.

The need to work more efficiently

One of the main reasons for Amphia to centralize its processes into one service management application is efficiency. “Healthcare departments are so intertwined, we can’t afford to work with different systems,” says Richard Kamman, Manager of the Information and Medical Technology department’s knowledge core.

“We are always on the lookout for applications that make our lives easier,” explains Kamman. “When we choose a new application, we want to introduce it on as large a scale as possible, so that there is no fragmentation of the application landscape.”

That’s why they decided to roll out TOPdesk company-wide. “Before, everybody had their own hobby horse. If we hadn’t intervened, there’s a good chance we would have purchased several similar tools.”

One system for incident registration

The Information and Medical Technology (IMT) knowledge core was the first department to start using TOPdesk as an incident management system.

Mirjam Spanjaardt, Department Head Application Management IMT: “We use TOPdesk for everything, from the simplest things such as forgotten passwords to the most complex issues, such as equipment that no longer works.”

Within IMT, TOPdesk is used intensively as the incident registration system. “When the Electronic Health Record was introduced, all incident registration went through TOPdesk. During the implementation period, this even went up to five thousand calls per month. Now it’s down to two thousand a month.”

An application that makes life easier

The IMT, HR, Housing and Medical and Business Information knowledge cores now all work with TOPdesk. “This has made TOPdesk a crucial system, uniting all our processes,” says Kamman.

The Facilities knowledge group is currently working on migrating to TOPdesk. The laboratories will also make the switch in due course. “The entire chain should eventually be able to work from a single source, making collaboration easier,” explains Kamman.

Kamman explains that he doesn’t consider TOPdesk as a system for the support departments, but rather as a system for the end user. Spanjaardt adds: “That is why we no longer talk about incidents, but about calls. This is more pleasant and easier for everyone. With Facilities we are taking the next step towards a user-friendly, integral system for the end user. We are working towards more chain formation, collaboration and uniformity.”

The ease of collaborating in one tool

Collaborating in a single system is going exceptionally well for the hospital. Kamman: ‘We are seeing more and more links emerging. In the past, for example, when a new employee joined the company, a whole stream of paperwork would follow.”

“Now, when a new employee joins the company, we record the process in TOPdesk in one go. A series of events is created in TOPdesk, ensuring that the correct actions are taken immediately. When the employee joins, their email is set up and they can get to work straight away. The same process applies for leaving the company. An action at HR therefore results in a direct action at IT and vice versa. This is how we keep expanding TOPdesk.”

 

Working with other tools

Amphia uses TOPdesk as the incident management system for a large number of applications. In addition to TOPdesk, Amphia has introduced CareCTRL, a large ERP system that handles all calls relating to medical equipment.

Kamman: “Ultimately, we would like to create a link between TOPdesk and CareCTRL, so we can use both applications to optimize our information provision. If we synchronize CareCTRL with TOPdesk, all incident registrations and resources should end up in TOPdesk. This will make it even easier to streamline requests in the future.”

Keep improving with self-service

One of the next steps forward is implementing the Self-Service Portal. Kamman: “In a hospital everyone is always in a hurry. If the helpdesk can’t be reached by phone, people report their problems later or not at all. And that is something we don’t want.”

“It is much more convenient if people can log their own calls, at a time that suits them. In turn, we can see immediately who the call is from and we have all the information we need to respond and help them out. The busiest time at the helpdesk is now at the beginning of the day. This will change with the introduction of the Self-Service Portal. We are going to take huge steps efficiency-wise.”