Gaston Medical saves hospital pharmacists an hour of work per day

LIOF and Gaston Medical

Increasing patient safety in hospitals: that is the main objective of Gaston Medical

Everyone knows it by now: the pressure on healthcare professionals is sky-high. One of the consequences is an increase in the number of medication errors. Gaston Medical's smart software helps healthcare professionals make fast, well-considered decisions regarding treatment and medication. Thanks in part to recent funding from the regional development company for Limburg (LIOF), they are doing just that at more and more hospitals and primary care pharmacists in the Netherlands. We spoke with the company's CTO and CEO: Paul de Clercq and Jody Martens.

The numbers don't lie. Research shows that 5.6% of all patients experience unintentional harm during a hospital visit. Most errors occur when prescribing and administering medication.
Given the sheer volume of information and reports with which healthcare professionals are inundated, it is not surprising that errors occur. Report fatigue, also known as "alert fatigue," is a widespread problem in hospitals. Moreover, healthcare providers are increasingly faced with a plethora of guidelines and standards, making the situation even more challenging.

Only really relevant reports

Gaston, as the software is called, differs from regular systems in that it only transmits truly relevant reports. "Without Gaston, hospitals sometimes receive as many as 400 reports a day, 90% of which are unnecessary. We filter that noise, allowing pharmacists and physicians to focus on what really matters." The software can interface with all common ICT systems in the hospital world. Leading institutions such as Maastricht UMC+, Catharina Hospital and Leiden University Medical Center are already using it.

Amazing results

The results of using Gaston are astounding. At St. Jansdal Hospital, for example, use of the software results in a drop of as much as 86% in the number of unnecessary reports. This saves a hospital pharmacist with responsibility over 340 beds and 18,500 admissions per year at least one hour per day. The improvement thus not only saves considerable time, but also reduces the workload. In addition, fewer errors are made, which benefits the quality of care.

Martens: "Hospital pharmacists should not be constantly occupied with dealing with administrative reports. After all, it is not the focus of their work. Our software allows them to complete their tasks much smarter and faster, leaving more time for patient care. It makes me proud to see that we are actually making an impact."

'Drag-and-drop' system

The company's success is primarily due to the software's unparalleled user-friendliness, De Clercq explains. "We wanted to build a system that would allow healthcare providers to instantly set up and automate healthcare processes without the need for technical knowledge. With Gaston, users can easily drag and drop cubes to create or modify their own workflows. This intuitive drag-and-drop system makes it possible for pharmacists and physicians to quickly respond to changes without the need for an IT specialist."
In addition, what makes Gaston special is the application of artificial intelligence. De Clercq: "Smart algorithms analyze patient and medication data and provide suggestions for improvements in medication monitoring.

Hospitals exchange information

The company also plans to interconnect hospitals through an AI exchange platform. "Through this umbrella system, hospitals can safely and efficiently exchange data with each other," says De Clercq. "This way they can jointly perform even smarter analyses on larger data sets." This is useful for conducting scientific research, building large AI models or formatting reports for hospitals.

The Gaston AI platform requests only the data that is necessary. If desired, the data can first be processed within the hospital. The data is not stored in a central location but remains within the walls of the hospital. Also, the data is available in real time and therefore up-to-date. By pooling the knowledge of healthcare institutions, Gaston not only supports on an individual level, but also drives innovation within the healthcare sector on a national level.

Bright future

The future of Gaston Medical looks bright. By now, 17 hospitals in the Netherlands are using the software. In addition to the solution for hospital pharmacists, Gaston has also started a similar, smart solution for hospital laboratories, for example to automate lab orders or generate automated diagnostic recommendations for specialists and general practitioners. By now, a number of laboratories are already using the software.

"We hope to serve many more hospitals and laboratories in the coming years. Partly thanks to LIOF, we are now really ready to conquer the national market," concludes Martens.

This testimonial was produced by Innovation Origins | October 2024
Photography: Ron Wiersma, Maastricht(ronwiersma.nl)