SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM) today announced that it launched two innovative smart hospital solutions namely Patient Guide and Bedside Station under collaboration with Healthconnect, a joint venture formed between SK Telecom and Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH) in January 2012. The solutions are applied to Seoul National University Bundang Hospital (SNUBH) to offer a wide range of services designed to bring enhanced convenience and benefits to patients.

Since designating healthcare business as one of its three new growth engines earlier this year, SK Telecom has been making aggressive efforts to combine its state-of-the-art ICT with medical service with the aim to create a whole new type of healthcare services that help improve the quality of peoples’ lives. Following its commercialization of a smart health management service named Health-On in March 2013, SK Telecom now introduces a smart hospital environment that, for the first time in the world, offers personalized medical services for patients through mobile devices.

Patient Guide

Patient Guide is an enterprise solution that allows hospitals to provide a wide-range of guidance services for out-patients based on full mobile/ICT system. Patients can simply download the free Patient Guide application to their smartphones to receive personalized support during their visit to the hospital.
 
The application, which automatically starts upon patient’s entrance to SNUBH, will communicate with the hospital EMR (Electronic Medical Record) system to retrieve the patient’s appointment-related data and handle the check-in procedure. Then, the patient will be able to view the order of scheduled appointment/examinations, check expected waiting time, find detailed medical information (e.g. prescribed medication), and pay medical bills via mobile. Supported by SK Telecom’s differentiated indoor positioning technology and 3D-mapping technology, Patient Guide also gives accurate directions to help patients find their way to an appointment or any other locations inside of the large hospital. Furthermore, patients can participate in satisfaction surveys and schedule follow-up appointments. The above service can also be provided through interactive kiosks installed within the hospital.
 
Bedside Station

Bedside Station is an enterprise solution developed to improve in-patients’ satisfaction in hospital care and service. It offers upgraded medical services and diverse useful features for in-patients through a 15-inch smart device (tablet PC) connected to each hospital bed.

Each patient can log in to the system by tapping his/her RFID wristband to the tablet. Then the patient can view hospital’s general information (e.g. introduction, notice, event, etc); check personalized information including health records, treatment/examination schedule, and prescribed medication; request room cleaning/change and menu change; pay hospital bills; and enjoy entertainment services like TV and Internet.

SK Telecom expects Bedside Station to greatly enhance patients’ convenience, while also improving the efficiency of hospital administration. Moreover, the company plans to add more attractive features to the solution such as a smart monitoring feature that automatically alerts the medical staff in case of emergencies by detecting the patient’s status. 

”Hospitals have now reached a point where they must devise and apply measures that can enhance patient convenience and satisfaction as top-quality medical service alone can no longer guarantee leadership in the market,” said Lee Chul-hee, CEO of Healthconnect (President of Boramae Medical Center). ”ICT-based smart hospital solutions like Patient Guide and Bedside Station will contribute to the advancement of hospital care and service.”

Yook Tae-sun, Senior Vice President and Head of New Business Division at SK Telecom said, ”SK Telecom has been focusing on the healthcare business to turn it into a strong growth engine. Going forward, SK Telecom will further improve its smart hospital solutions to shape them into attractive business models, seeking business opportunities in the overseas markets.”