The future starts now!

The future has already begun – a statement that neatly summarizes the keynote speech given by Prof. Dr. David Matusiewicz, Dean for Health and Social Studies at FOM University. He outlined future developments that signify nothing less than a paradigm shift in the field of healthcare. Specifically, a move away from the treatment of illness to a system of health maintenance and illness prevention. Although hospitals have an important role to play, they will be subject to significant changes. Matusiewicz predicted that data analysis will soon enable illnesses to be detected long before they develop, and that the health market will be strongly influenced by players such as Google, Amazon, and IBM. Hospitals are already having to rise to a wide range of challenges: from a lack of lack of trained specialists and growing bureaucratic requirements to the need to analyze and usefully manage an ever-increasing flood of data. Such challenges cannot be met without reliable partner companies that provide the requisite technical solutions.

PEGASOS already ensures that users are well prepared, as evidenced by the practical examples given at the event. These clearly showed NEXUS / MARABU GmbH to be a partner that develops solutions in close collaboration with its customers and thus provides optimal preparation for current and future changes.

User reports: Introduction of digital patient records and long-term archiving with IHE

Jens Mauckisch, head of IT at Johanniter Competence Center GmbH, detailed how PEGASOS had been used for to introduce a digital patient record in the in-patient facilities at Johanniter. The Competence Center provides support throughout such processes and relies on close cooperation with the subsequent users. To enable this, it uses IT boards and user committees attended by representatives of the individual user and interest groups at the hospitals. The requirements identified in this way then determine which applications and modules are introduced and with what features. “We find it useful to work with blueprints that we trial in pilot facilities and subsequently transfer to other areas,” explains Mauckisch. An approach that has proven successful: the introduction of the digital patient record has now been completed at the first four institutions. KDL was used to standardize the previously different file structures, which enables all available data to be transferred smoothly both within the institutions themselves and externally using IHE. “We remain pleased with our decision to implement PEGASOS. The system is a real success factor for us and our future,” summarizes Mauckischs.

Committed PEGASOS user Jochen Diener, head of IT at Klinikum Saarbrücken, also feels well-equipped for future developments. He reported on how IHE had been used to implement external long-term archiving at his hospital. His advice to the attendees: “If you embark on a project like this, get it right from the outset by implementing IHE and working with the right industry partner!” Change of this type also always involves having to win over employees and demonstrating the long-term benefit for their own particular area of work, explained the IT manager. NEXUS / MARABU GmbH once again proved a reliable partner in this regard, providing Diener with useful support to ensure a successful conclusion to his project. The consistent use of the IHE standard in long-term archiving enabled us to standardize and optimize processes, outsource long-term archiving, and relocate secure order data processing to the cloud, among other things. “Along the way, the flexibility offered by PEGASOS has saved many an individual project,” recalls Diener. He once again emphasized how important it is for hospitals to prepare for the coming changes and implement technical innovations in good time.

New features and planned changes

“We work with a large number of users, who sometimes have very different requirement. The modular structure of PEGASOS enables the system to be continually adapted. It's a very well conceived design,” said one attendee at the user meeting. To ensure this remains true in the future, NEXUS / MARABU GmbH continues to develop the software further and add new features. Development manager Carsten Schulze provided an update on new functions for the WinClient, the NEXUS^NG plug-in, and Microsoft Office integration. He reported on technology and performance improvements, a new module for data protection, and enhancements to existing expert solutions. Schulze also announced the release of PEGASOS 7.8 in spring 2020.

Trends and outlook

The new features provided by the developers not only meet legal requirements, but also fulfill numerous customer requests. To ensure that users are optimally prepared for the challenges along the route to Hospital 4.0, Thomas Lichtenberg, Managing Director at NEXUS / MARABU GmbH, drew their attention to specific upcoming trends: “I believe that the creation of mass signatures with an institute stamp will become an important topic in the near future.” This type of signature is particularly useful for documents that need to be communicated outside of an institution.
According to the Managing Director, hospitals must also develop concepts at an early stage for handling the continuously increasing volumes of data. Lichtenberg sees the outsourcing of services using PEGASOS as the solution to this problem. MARABU offers its customers various Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) variants as part of a seamless solution. This includes the outsourcing of various services, from the provision of the entire process chain for hosting and operating the PEGASOS environment in Marabu datacenters to the creation of a digital archive, including the required scanning services.
The strong orientation toward customer requirements stands guarantee to the success of the PEGASOS system, and is just one reason why NEXUS / MARABU GmbH sets great store by close collaboration with users. “As a manufacturer, we rely on our cooperation with you. Which is why I invite you to become actively involved and engage with us in conversation!” said Thomas Lichtenberg in his parting words.