From Post-it notes to precision planning: Finland's Seinäjoki Central Hospital streamlines admin with Lifecare Resource Optimization

Up-to-date digital information on nurse resourcing optimizes patient services and enhances daily work.

Tommi Koistinen

Lead Product Manager, Production Management

The challenge

The wellbeing services county of South Ostrobothnia lacked effective tools for resource planning. Workspaces and staff were assigned manually using inconsistent methods, resulting in widespread inefficiencies. To improve coordination, the county implemented the Lifecare Resource Optimization solution in three outpatient clinics at Seinäjoki Central Hospital – with very positive results.

The solution

By providing up-to-date resource information for service planning, Tietoevry Care’s Lifecare Resource Optimization solution standardizes the operations of the county’s outpatient clinics. Accurate resourcing data is stored in a digital application, eliminating the need to track details manually or from memory. This reduces administrative work and frees up time for patient care and supervisory tasks.

About the customer

The wellbeing services county of South Ostrobothnia operates in 18 Finnish municipalities and serves 190,000 citizens. Over 10,000 professionals work in the county’s eight social and health centres, covering 400 different job roles.

Benefits for the customer

Improving management of one's own work

Resource allocation is a clear and manageable process, leaving more time for nursing work. Real-time updates can be made to the service plan, which is visually represented as a calendar.

Optimizing the use of resources

Shared space and personnel across outpatient clinics enable efficient use of sought-after competencies and improve patient access to care through optimized time management.

Enhancing operations based on data

With clear resource data, it’s easier to analyse and develop operations. Budgeting also becomes more accurate, as it corresponds with the available resources.

After a joint specification and development project between the wellbeing services county of South Ostrobothnia, Finland, and Tietoevry Care, the Lifecare Resource Optimization solution was implemented in the county’s first outpatient clinics in May 2024.

"Our wellbeing services county’s resource planning was largely manual and time-consuming, with information collected from various systems into Post-it notes and Excel spreadsheets. In our extensive development program, we analyzed long-term measures and their impact on resource planning. The goal was to lighten the planning staff’s cognitive load and overall workload by automating operations. Tietoevry Care's solution was a good fit for this need," says Marjo Patana, ICT Development Manager for Production Management at the wellbeing services county of South Ostrobothnia.

Three cheerful professionals sitting at a table looking at a laptop. From left: Marjo Patana (light pink blazer), Sami Penttilä (blue nurse shirt), and Tytti Valli (black jacket). In the background: light blue walls, a hallway, and a wall clock. — From left: Development Manager for Production Management Marjo Patana, Head Nurse Sami Penttilä and Manager of Social and Health Application Services Tytti Valli

The solution is developed in close collaboration

"The implementation of Lifecare Resource Optimization was planned in collaboration with various outpatient clinics, whose sizes and areas of expertise varied from surgery to orthopedics and urology. I am very pleased that we managed to engage the head nurses in this project and the overall development effort. The project also included representatives from HR and facility management," says Tytti Valli, Manager of Social and Health Application Services at the wellbeing services county of South Ostrobothnia.

Patana explains that the biggest task in the implementation was to enter the background information.

"First, the clinic's parameters are recorded: staff, competencies, working hours, facilities, service definitions, and their requirements. Once this is done, the service plan is usually implemented for three weeks. The service, facility and resources are matched, and if the definitions are correct, the work can be automated. The head nurse just needs to review the plan and add any changes – such as training, absence notifications and vacations – before approval and publication. Currently, the weekly plan is still printed for employees to see, but we are looking forward to the mobile interface coming in the fall of 2025," Patana explains.

The solution can also include regular meetings and training sessions, which facilitate communication and reduce email overload. Doctors can see the room and nurse from the list, while physiotherapists can stay informed about what is happening in the outpatient clinic and plan their tasks accordingly. Predictability in daily work improves and unexpected situations can be avoided. This in turn is reflected in clearer and more unified care pathways for patients.

The development of the solution has been carried out in close cooperation between the county's project team and Tietoevry Care's experts. Both Valli and Patana are satisfied with the collaborative and responsive partnership. Questions have been answered promptly and systematic practices have been established to support ongoing application development.

"Both parties have learned a lot over the past year. Implementations have become routine and largely automatic. We now follow established best practices and know what the solution requires for us to succeed," Patana says.

"Our collaboration has been good. Tietoevry Care's experts have solved challenges quickly, which is a definite plus. I strongly recommend Lifecare Resource Optimization to the other counties as well. Some systems are burdensome, while others make everyday life easier. This belongs to the latter," says Sami Penttilä, a head nurse working at South Ostrobothnia’s surgical and orthopedic outpatient clinics.

More time for patient care and staff management

The interviewees report clear benefits and positive feedback from the new solution. With the shift away from Excel sheets and handwritten notes, the overall situation is now much clearer for everyone.

"Once the major groundwork was done, the workload significantly lightened. Weekly resource allocation used to take several hours, as information was transferred from many different systems. Now the entire process takes at most half an hour per outpatient clinic. I am also eagerly awaiting the mobile app that will replace pen and paper, with everyone able to see the lists," Penttilä explains.

Penttilä also praises the operating solution:

"As a new head nurse, I can say that this is one of the most straightforward solutions I have seen. It is user-friendly and provides a clear view of the outpatient clinic's situation, as all users have access to the same information. This fits well with the current work community, where head nurses have many outpatient clinics and do substitutions, meaning they don't have ready background information on all outpatient clinics."

In the social and health sector, daily management requires time. Supervisors need to be present in the daily lives of the staff. With the implementation of the solution, the head nurse can focus on important matters – such as staff and change management – without spending time on computer work.

More features coming

"The solution has developed significantly and generally includes all the specified functionalities, so we can now rapidly implement our expansion plans. The county’s goal is for the solution to serve as many different outpatient clinics as possible. By the end of 2025, we aim to have 10 outpatient clinics using the solution. We area also aiming to expand it to different staff groups, including physiotherapists and primary healthcare providers," says Valli.

Application development and new functionalities are still needed, says Tommi Koistinen, Lead Product Manager of Lifecare Resource Optimization: "We have clear plans for the continued development of the solution package. There are many areas in the portfolio where additional features can be built, such as forecasts, placement optimization and decision support. In our discussions with the wellbeing services counties, it has become clear that everyone sees the need for operational efficiency and cost savings. Our solutions can help to ease the situation."