First smart hospital in Hong Kong put into operation

(ECNS) -- The Medical Center of Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Hong Kong's first totally electronic smart hospital, has been put into operation.

Covering an area of 10,000 square meters, the center has 14 floors with 516 inpatient beds, 90 day beds, 28 operating rooms, 56 consulting rooms and 16 specialized medical centers.

Each medicine rack in the outpatient pharmacy is equipped with an electronic sensor, which can assist pharmacists to pick medicines accurately and keep electronic records.

"When a drug is selected in the PDA program, the corresponding label will light up to show the location of the drug. The pharmacist needs to scan the QR code on the label to make sure it is the expected drug. The light will turn off if the correct drug is taken out of the medicine cabinet. Meanwhile, the batch and expiration date of the drug will be captured when the QR code is scanned, which is convenient for drug recovery," said a pharmacist in CUHK Medical Center.

The center introduced the first automatic drug dispensing machine to Hong Kong. Drugs that patients need to take at different periods can be scientifically packed through this machine.

After the order is verified on the computer by the pharmacist, it will be sent to this machine, which will pack all drugs a patient need in a period in a small bag. Information on these drugs can be found on the surface of the box, including the photos of drugs, dose, time, notes, etc.

High-tech physiotherapy equipment can be seen in the Sports Medicine & Rehabilitation Center of the hospital, which provides one-stop assessment, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitative services for clients with sports injuries or other musculoskeletal/neurological conditions.

"This is an anti-gravity treadmill, which uses pneumatic technology to reduce patient's weight to speed up rehabilitation. This is a running instrument for posture analysis. We use the built-in lens to analyze a patient's physical condition. This data is helpful in rehabilitation training for patients," said Liu Jiaqi, Chief physiotherapist of CUHK Medical Center.

CUHK Medical Center promotes the construction of smart hospitals in terms of treatment, service and administration.

"We focus on three goals: WITMED, smart service and smart management. WITMED features totally electronic and paperless medical records. Smart services use technology to support patients throughout the treatment journey. Smart management realizes human-machine-things connection through the Internet of Things (IoT)," said Feng Kang, CEO of CUHK Medical Center.

At present, CUHK Medical Center provides general, specialist outpatient and day treatment services with 15 resident doctors and nearly 100 nurses. Other services will be carried out from April 2021, including 24-hour emergency treatment starting October.