Digitising and securing workflows for home healthcare professionals
Digitalisation Tool Centralisation Healthcare Data Security Critical Infrastructure
Dematerialization of tools and modernization of processes
When paper and manual entry become operational obstacles
Modernization of the daily lives of home nurses (State Diploma Nurse) through the provision of a mobile application that digitizes and secures the entire process of biological sampling in the field.
Context
SECTOR
Health, laboratory, and personal assistance
SCOPE
Dematerialization and mobile application
MISSION
Digitalization of tools, centralization of data and simplification of processes
The challenge: to equip healthcare professionals in the network with a mobile reference tool, capable of centralizing the entire home sampling process into a simple, reliable interface usable in field conditions.
Our client is one of the leaders in laboratory analysis networks in France. Every day, hundreds of self-employed and salaried nurses take biological samples directly at patients' homes, before transporting the samples to the network's laboratories.
This field profession requires a rigorous and simultaneous management of numerous constraints: Organizing tours, Collecting prescriptions, Selecting samples to be collected based on pre-analytical requirements, files to be transmitted to the laboratory within deadlines. A significant part of these tasks was still managed manually on paper or with tools poorly adapted to mobile work (with the risks of error and time losses that this entails).
Offline synchronization and health data security
The starting point of this project was an entirely paper-based circuit. At the end of each sample collection, the nurse manually filled out a summary sheet that she then had to physically deposit at the laboratory.
There, a new entry was made by the lab teams to integrate the information into the system. This circuit generated delays, risks of error at each transcription step, and a total lack of real-time visibility on the progress of the files.
Conversely, the information did not flow back to the nurses: they had no way of knowing, without a call or visit, if the results for their patients were available.
The project's challenge was therefore twofold: to eliminate this paper circuit entirely and to create continuity.
bidirectional digital communication between the field nurse and the laboratory. This involved several non-trivial technical constraints.
The first was offline reliability: a visiting nurse does not always have a stable network connection. The application had to function fully offline and synchronize data seamlessly as soon as the connection was restored, without any user intervention.
The second concerned the accuracy of data in the test catalog. This catalog had to accurately reflect the specific requirements for each examination (materials to be used, fasting conditions, transport and storage modalities...). Incorrect information in this area has direct consequences on the quality of the sampling and, ultimately, on the patient's health.
The third was the security of health data: social security numbers, INS codes, test results...
Biometric authentication, secure storage, and automatic deletion of results after a contractual delay were non-negotiable constraints from the design stage.
We chose Flutter as the technological foundation, allowing deployment on iOS and Android from a single code base, with a native experience on both platforms.
The architecture relies on a strict separation between business logic and interface, SQLite for local persistence, and Firebase Cloud Messaging for real-time push notifications.
Before: Inherited Process
Monolithic controllers, business logic in repositories, 1,300 lines on the central entity, 1 global JS file for all pages, zero automated testing
After: Modernized Process
A secure offline-first mobile application that automates real-time workflows between the field and the laboratory.
Listen
An application intended for practicing healthcare professionals cannot afford any technical or ethical compromise. The practitioners who use it are mobile, pressed for time, and often alone with the patient. They need a tool that meets their requirements in all environments without compromising on security and performance.
This project illustrates our conviction well: the quality of an application is not measured by its technical complexity, but by its ability to fit naturally into use. Its handling becomes an instinctive reflex rather than an additional tool to manage.
The deployment to a national network also involved designing an application capable of adapting to the specificities of each laboratory, without compromising the coherence of the user experience.
Operational gains and competitive advantages
We have designed and developed a mobile application available on iOS and Android, deployed to healthcare professionals in the network. The application centralizes the entire home sampling process into a single tool:
SAMPLE FILES
Creation in seconds: prescription photo, urgency character, comments, configuration of result transmission preferences to the patient (online patient space, DMP, ...). Automated sending to the laboratory.
PATIENT BASES
Encrypted offline database: Provision of necessary contact details for carrying out acts by state-qualified nurses. Multi-criteria search and favorites system for regular patients.
MEDICAL ANALYSIS CATALOG
Embedded reference integrating all necessary information for an IDE to ensure its act.
ANALYSIS RESULTS
Real-time availability of analysis results based on criteria defined in the laboratory information system.
NETWORK MAPPING
Location of network sites and sample deposit nearby, with direct access to coordinates, itinerary launch, and one-touch calling.
NOTIFICATIONS AND NEWS
Real-time relay of updates to protocols or communications from the network and laboratory
OFFLINE-FIRST SYNCHRONIZATION
The data is available at any time and without a connection.
SECURE AUTHENTICATION
Biometric login (fingerprint or Face ID), secure storage of credentials, multi-account support for IDEs working across multiple networks.
Workflow Gains
The application profoundly transforms 2 axes of the home nursing profession.
The removal of paper
The creation of a sampling file is now done in just a few seconds from the patient's home, even before the tubes arrive at the laboratory. It is automatically integrated into the LIS (laboratory information system) to limit double entry errors.
The continuity of information
Nurses receive a notification as soon as their patients' results are available and can consult them directly in the application. What previously required a call or a visit is now information accessible at any time.
This is complemented by the elimination of uncertainties in sampling on-site thanks to the built-in catalog and the intelligent sampling suggestion solution.
Results
| Before optimisation | After optimisation | |
|---|---|---|
| Creation of sample collection records | Paper form completed manually after each sample collection and physically delivered to the laboratory | Record created in a few seconds from the application and automatically transmitted to the laboratory |
| Laboratory-side integration | Paper forms manually re-entered by laboratory staff | Data received directly in the LIS |
| Availability of results | Limited visibility via SMS | The nurse is notified automatically as soon as results are available and can view them in the application |
| Pre-analytical guidance | Risk of selecting the wrong tube or using incorrect sample collection conditions | Guidance module available at any time |
| Offline operation | Entirely paper-based process | Mobile network availability is no longer a constraint |
| Data security | Paper records with no traceability | Biometric authentication, secure storage and automatic deletion of results after seven days |
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