The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

A bot that issues gimmicks and shortens queues: the IDF promises a "revolution" in health services | Israel Hayom

2022-08-01T14:17:36.313Z


After years of complaints about the medicine given to the servants, the organization hopes to improve its image with the help of the "Medicine for you" program • Among the planned changes: moving to remote medicine, increasing the number of appointments, reducing waiting times, renovating the infrastructure and improving the field of mental health


After years full of complaints regarding medicine in the IDF, which included reports of a lack of queues and unreasonable waits for specialist doctors, the IDF announces a "revolution" in the medical services provided to servicemen.

Among the planned changes the organization is working on - a transition to digital and remote medicine in a way that will increase the number of appointments and reduce waiting times, additional personnel, establishment of new clinics, renovation of 117 existing clinics, improvement of the field of mental health, and more.

It seems that the innovation that will catch the eyes of the soldiers is mainly a computerized "bot" that can give medical advice to the soldiers. We will explain: according to the data of the Medical Corps, last year there were 2,558,283 meetings between doctors and servants in the IDF - a disproportionate number in relation to the number of servants and also in light of the fact As a general rule, the population serving in the IDF is young.

In order to reduce the burden on the doctors and reduce the number of false calls, a pilot is currently taking place in the framework of which servants seeking medical treatment answer pre-programmed bot questions.

The bot can refer them to human medical care, and in some cases even provide rehabilitation.

Military field hospital deployment exercise (for illustration only), photo: Eyal Margolin-Gini

It is clear to the medical corps officials that there will be those who will try to take advantage of the tool to serially issue sick leave, and despite this, there are already videos on the Tik-Tok application explaining to soldiers what to answer to the "bot" in order to receive the desired sick days. The army states that the way to deal with the problem is Limit the quota of sick days that a soldier can receive through the "bot", and block a soldier who serially issues disability benefits.

Also, soldiers in training and training will not be able to use this technology.

The comprehensive program to improve the medical service in the IDF, which was named "Medicine for you", includes many aspects, but the Medical Corps notes that a particularly great emphasis will be placed on improving the medical service experience of the service members. In a staff work done before the program, it was found that the quality of the medical care they receive The soldiers are good, and the problem is mainly in the experience of the service.

Although after the work of the headquarters on the subject, the army decided to keep the medical treatment within the IDF, the organization decided to privatize some of the medical services provided to servicemen, especially those in which the army does not have a comparative advantage. Among other things, it was decided to use outsourcing for pregnancy monitoring, and to allow servicemen to access pharmacies and Blood tests also in civilian facilities with which the army will communicate.

The plan to improve the face of medicine in the army also includes a significant change in visiting a doctor, who for years suffered from a lack of available turns, and the servants reported the gifts of long hours.

Due to the change in the procedures of the medical facilities and the upgrading of the agreements with the concessionaire, the IDF was able to reduce the waiting times for a doctor, and if in the past, for example, at the Modi'in branch there was an average wait of 140 minutes for an appointment with a doctor, today it is only 30 minutes.

At the same time, the IDF is establishing dedicated remote medicine complexes that will allow the soldier serving at the base to have a doctor-patient meeting with a specialist who sits anywhere in the country. The complexes, which are actually air-conditioned and private rooms, equipped with appropriate communication and medical equipment that allows the doctor to guide the soldier on how to examine himself, will be placed By the middle of next year in 22 different bases and the specialist medicine will be accessible to the units.

Test centers will be placed in 22 different bases (for illustration only), photo: Yonatan Shaul

In addition, in order to make medical services accessible to servicemen in the south, about a month and a half ago, the IDF inaugurated a medical center in the Arava region that will provide servicemen in the region with specialist medical services in a variety of fields. It will save the IDF many training days for soldiers, which until now have been wasted on long trips to the center and north of the country.

Now, the soldiers will receive special transportation services to the clinic.

At the same time, the IDF is also interested in improving the field of mental health, after it became clear that the average waiting time for a mental health clinic in the IDF is 51 days. In addition to recruiting additional personnel for the mental health system, the army will for the first time make it possible to make an appointment for a mental health clinic through The appointment application of the Medical Corps.

And if that's not enough, the IDF will distribute 90 new ultrasound devices to the medical officers in the battalions and clinics, in a way that will enable each battalion to have imaging capabilities. The army also reports on other innovations in the field of dentistry, including new dental equipment and advanced medical equipment.

Also, the IDF will expand the agreement with the pharmacies to 19 additional locations, and in the end units there will be 9 digital stations for withdrawing medicines that will be loaded by a qualified pharmacist ahead of time and will allow the soldier to receive a medicine that was prescribed for him without an appointment, and by means of a code that he will receive on his cell phone. It will be possible to order medicines to the home. 

were we wrong

We will fix it!

If you found an error in the article, we would appreciate it if you shared it with us

Source: israelhayom

All news articles on 2022-08-01

You may like

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.