June 2007

Technology improves disease management

The Alfred Hospital’s Cystic Fibrosis Service is at the forefront of a technological advance designed to make life simpler for Victorian CF patients and their carers.

The development of Australia’s first statewide, cross-practice electronic health record program will ensure patients with this chronic illness have access to better, more efficient care—regardless of where they seek medical attention.

Head of the Alfred’s Cystic Fibrosis Service Professor John Wilson said under the program the medical records of CF patients would be available, on demand, to authorised clinicians at all metropolitan CF service centres and selected regional hospitals.

‘Clinical information will be able to be transferred instantaneously and accessed from multiple sites simultaneously,’ Professor Wilson said.

‘Authorised clinicians will have access to patient information, summaries, results and treatment plans and will be able to instantly issue electronic prescriptions and fact sheets and management plans tailored to a patient’s condition.

‘This will provide a much more efficient system than tracking down a paper medical record.

‘Because CF patients are treated by a multi-disciplinary team of clinicians and allied health staff, a physical record could be anywhere in the hospital but, this way, it’s always easily and immediately accessible from anywhere.’

Professor Wilson said the program’s benefits could include a reduction in transcription and medication errors, the ability to communicate more effectively between carers and a more consistent patient journey for those with CF.

‘We feel that tertiary referral services are better linked through digital means than paper records.

‘There will also be an electronic trail of who has accessed the system and made changes,’ Professor Wilson said.

The program’s implementation was facilitated through a $660,000 grant awarded by the Federal Government’s Department of Health and Ageing.

Howard Booth and Daniel Scordel from ITS have been responsible for providing local infrastructure support and, if successful, it will be rolled out to all 33 Australian CF centres.