Digitization of internal processes at the Osnabrück Hospice

The Osnabrück Hospice offers a wide range of support services surrounding the accompaniment of people at the end of their lives – from outpatient hospice and children’s hospice services to Specialized Outpatient Palliative Care with hospice care counseling, grief counseling, and up to the inpatient hospice and academy. As part of the European Digital Innovation Center CITAH, an employee of OFFIS e.V. was able to get to know these different areas during a two-day internship. The goal of the internship was to identify digitization potentials together with the hospice staff that could be implemented collaboratively within the framework of CITAH.

One identified topic was the creation and use of digital letterhead. Since each area of the hospice uses individual letterhead, the hospice was interested in a solution that would allow digital letterhead to be easily attached to a document with just a few clicks. To this end, the CITAH team implemented a solution based on programs that the hospice had already been using.

Prior to the internship, the hospice had acquired software for electronic signatures. Unfortunately, as is often the case in healthcare, there was a lack of personnel and time resources to familiarize themselves with the program. Here, the CITAH team was able to assist by having an employee of OFFIS e.V. familiarize themselves with the program and provide an introductory training tailored to the needs of the hospice.

Another topic was internal appointment scheduling as well as appointment coordination with more than 100 volunteers. Here, the CITAH team proposed and supported the introduction of a free, GDPR-compliant tool.