Transforming Healthcare Efficiency at one of Northern Europe’s Largest Hospitals with Mathematical Modeling and AI
Sahlgrenska University Hospital, one of Northern Europe’s largest and most renowned healthcare institutions, has taken a major step towards the future of healthcare efficiency. In partnership with Sownder, the hospital’s Department of Hybrid and Interventional Surgery (Operation 1 and 8) has implemented Sownder’s AI- and mathematically powered platform to enhance planning, streamline operations, and improve patient outcomes.
The Challenge: Healthcare Under Pressure
Healthcare systems across Sweden face rising challenges: an aging population, a shortage of healthcare professionals, and increased demand for surgical interventions. Traditional scheduling and resource planning methods often fall short, resulting in long patient queues, staff burnout, and high operational costs. At a large and complex hospital like Sahlgrenska, which performs thousands of advanced surgical procedures each year, these challenges are amplified.
The Solution: Mathematical Modeling Meets Real-World Care
Sownder’s platform is designed to solve these issues at scale. It consists of three integrated components:
- Analyze – Provides a real-time overview of operational data.
- Predict – Forecasts trends and identifies hidden patterns.
- Optimize – Enhances scheduling, enabling hospitals to do more with existing resources.
By using Sownder’s solution, healthcare providers can reduce patient queues by up to 30%, increase staff satisfaction, and enable smarter, data-driven decisions.
A Milestone for Swedish Healthcare
Implementing this platform at Sahlgrenska is a milestone, given the hospital’s size, international reputation, and its role as a central hub for both specialized care and medical research. The Department of Hybrid and Interventional Surgery is now at the forefront of operational innovation in Swedish healthcare.
”We hope that this tool based on mathematiccal optimization and AI can provide a helpful reduction in time spended on planning the daily schedule and distribution of competences in our operation ward. Thereby detach more resources for patient care instead.” Sophie Lindgren, Head of deparment.
Beyond Efficiency: Building a Sustainable Future
The partnership between Sownder and Sahlgrenska demonstrates how technology can be leveraged to create a more sustainable healthcare system: reducing stress on staff, cutting costs, and ensuring that patients receive timely, high-quality care.
This initiative positions Sahlgrenska as a pioneer in operational innovation, setting an example for other major hospitals in Sweden and abroad.
Appendix: Challenges in Healthcare Operations
Inefficient resource planning in the healthcare sector is leading to a series of significant
issues:
- Long patient queues, with the need to reduce inpatient stays to increase capacity.
- Suboptimal scheduling and reception planning that fail to fully utilize available resources and staff.
- Lack of flexible, short-term planning tools, creating stress for staff and unsustainable work situations.
- High staff turnover, making healthcare an increasingly unattractive profession due to poor planning and lack of predictability.
- Operational vulnerability, as a few key individuals handle scheduling, which impacts overall efficiency
The Consequences of Poor Scheduling and Patient Planning
- 109 BSEK – Total healthcare costs, out of a yearly budget of 1.246 BSEK**
- 60% – Of healthcare employees are considering changing jobs***
- 180,000+ – People waiting for operations in the Swedish queue system****
These issues contribute to:
- Increased queue times and staff dissatisfaction.
- Decreased productivity and patient quality of life.
- Higher costs and wasted resources.
**Source: Regeringen, Statens budget i siffror, 2023
***Source: Vårdförbundet, Verksamhetsberättelse 2022
****Source: Socialstyrelsen, 2023
Contact Information
Christine Zilmer
Head of Marketing
Sownder International Aps
+45 21 71 09 02
Christine.zilmer@xbs.e43.myftpupload.com