Emergency patient record access: Innovation and collaboration, overcoming the obstacles in delivering healthcare
Emergency patient record access: Innovation and collaboration, overcoming the obstacles in delivering healthcare Conference Paper
14th National Rural Health Conference: A World of Rural Health
- Author(s): Falcocchio, Lucy, Brabender, Jenny
- Secondary Author(s): Coleman, Leanne
- Published: 2017
- Publisher: National Rural Health Alliance
Abstract: A remote, multi-site Aboriginal Medical Service in Western Australia has been using an electronic medical record as their primary health care clinical record for seven years. During this time a number of innovations have been developed which have improved the care delivery to patients in an incredibly remote part of Australia. In this presentation, a representative of the Aboriginal Medical Service will outline how the customer, together with the Vendor developed a software feature that has enhanced emergency patient care in this remote region. Due to the transient nature of the patient demographic, high rates of chronic disease/comorbidities and English being a second and sometimes third language among many of their patients, the customer needed something to assist in ensuring the continuity of care, for the many patients who end up at an acute care facility around the region. The software enhancement allows a pre-approved organisation, in this case, 6 remote hospitals, to be able to search for and access the patient’s primary health record if they present to the hospital requiring treatment. When the patient presents, the hospital searches for the patient in the organisations’ patient lists. They select the correct patient and after recording patient consent or inability to provide consent, the record is made visible to the hospital for a period of 24 hours. A secure and encrypted message is sent to clinical leaders at the AMS, advising them that the patient has presented to the hospital and that the patient clinical record has been accessed. Staff at the primary health care site are aware of the patient’s presentation, and are able to provide appropriate follow up that they otherwise would not if they did not know of the presentation. Since training was completed, there has been an average of 173 ED Access episodes per month. Following the patient encounter, staff at the hospital, record a progress note, advising the reason for presentation, findings, management and importantly whether the patient was admitted of discharged. The customer will talk about governance and training models implemented, and outline the impact that the ability to share the patient primary clinical record has had on the lives of those who live in this remote outback area, and how she monitors the program to ensure protocols are respected. The vendor will outline some of the technical challenges of developing this feature and how organisations using this feature address privacy concerns and will provide a live demonstration of the feature.
- Urls: http://www.ruralhealth.org.au/14nrhc/sites/default/files/Falcocchio%2C%20Lucy_B8_0.pdf Available from, http://www.ruralhealth.org.au/14nrhc/program/concurrent-speakers Download site
- Publisher Location: Cairns