One of NSW’s major regional hospitals has begun trialling Apple devices to deliver real-time pathology results and risk indicators to emergency department clinicians.
The project, which is taking place at the state's 325-bed Wagga Wagga Base Hospital, is intended to improve clinical decision making in time-pressured environments.
It is one of two proof-of-concept projects currently being progressed by the digital arm of NSW Health and the Murrumbidgee Local Health District with the assistance of industry partners.
“We want to give clinicians fast access to meaningful data insights which can help them to identify patients at risk of deterioration, and provide more timely mobile access to pathology results and X-rays,” Wagga Wagga Base Hospital’s emergency department director Dr Stephen Wood said.
Initially limited to a team of ten clinicians, the project will notify clinicians of pathology results and risk indicators in real-time using Apple devices like iPads, iPhones and Apple Watches.
Notifications will be send via the Miya Precision clinical decision support tool from ASX-listed healthcare software and services provider Alcidion.
“The platform is able to deliver additional clinical insights including deteriorating kidney function, coagulation management, antibiotic stewardship, management of gram-negative bacterial infections, low blood glucose and sepsis monitoring,” said Alcidion Group CEO Kate Quirke said.
The second PoC - which is also taking place at Wagga Wagga Base Hospital, which is the largest in the Riverina region - will create an open platform for researchers and developers to access simulated data.
The platform is intended to provide a “safe environment” to “test the functionality and feasibility ... models without putting patients privacy at risk”, eHealth NSW said.
Using clinical research automation software from Evidentli, the platform will provide researchers with analytic tools to drastically reduce the amount of time taken to perform clinical research on common health challenges.
Wood said the platform was “an incredibly powerful research tool which accurately captures activity to give insights into factors such as a patient’s risk of readmission as well as compliance with clinical pathways and the provision of clinically appropriate care”.
“The digitisation of healthcare is ramping up and all clinicians need to embrace it with a view to developing a platform that improves access to the information they require to deliver timely and appropriate clinical care,” he said.
“We are excited to be a part of these six-month projects and I hope that both prove to be successful.”
