I went to the National E-Health Strategy Forum information session in Alice Springs last week and thought Iíd share some of this with you. I certainly learnt a lot about whatís happening in this regard and kinda wondering if much is generally known out there hence me putting this together.
As remote health workers itís well known how quality and continuity of care is compromised without ready up-to-date access to health records.
Peopleís mobility, language and cultural differences affect this of course, and as they say in the information package, this can and does lead to frequent re-admissions, duplication of interventions e.g medications or immunizations and gaps in care. In addition, adverse events related to allergies can only be avoided when they are known about.
If records and information are more easily available clinicians are able to spend more time with the patient and the patient doesnít have to continually retell their story as they know it.
An external evaluation of the trial of eHealth NT in 2004 said that providers, health care managers and consumers unanimously supported the concept. The main three areas of need were identified as being being, Hospital Discharge Summaries, pathology results and Current Health Profile.
Shared Electronic Health Record (SEHR), Electronic Transfer of Prescriptions (ETP) and Secure Electronic Messaging Service (SEMS) are elements with the process being easy fast and secure. No doubt there are some teething problems initially. The SEHR is integrated into local clinical information systems whatever they are and at the end of a consultation there will be a tick box to send the information to the SEHR.
ETPs at this stage are unique to the NT and apart from anything else help get over illegibility problems.
SEMS can include discharge summaries and reports, test results and current medications and notifications such as appointments, referrals and management plans between services.
There is more information available regarding the choice not to send sensitive information to the SEHR if desired by the patient and other matters.
An elibrary and elearning strategy are part of the package.
It was reported that once trained productivity is much the same.

At this stage 80% of rural and remote Territorians are registered with 61 participatory sites involving 2400 health staff integrated into day-today service delivery. The registration process of Aboriginal people was done in a culturally appropriate way it is said.
The Anangu Pitjantjatjarra Lands of northern South Australia are also participating and the Kimberley in WA as well as Queensland are looking to being introduced as well.

The Australian Health Ministers commissioned Deloitte to develop the National Strategy with key stakeholders in early í08 and they endorsed this in December.

After starting off with radio at Walungurru (Kintore) NT in the late ë80s itís amazing!

You can find out more at www.ahmac.gov.au for the National Strategy. This includes provider information and frequently asked questions as well as the Implementation Roadmap. For more details on the NT and cross border areas and an example of a SEHR view go to www.ehealth.nt.gov.au
Hope you find this useful and helpful.

Cheers,

Vicki Gordon

vicki@crana.org.au