Angela was awarded the Florence Nightingale Foundation Garfield Weston national leadership scholarship (UK wide) in 2017 which supports and funds personal and career leadership development through a chosen area of practice improvement. Northern Ireland is planning a change programme over the next 10 years to digitally enable health and social care services through the adoption of a citizen focused electronic health and care record (EHCR) for the country (1.8 million population, integrated health and social care). Angela is using this exciting opportunity to study ‘nurse leadership digital capabilities’ to enable nurse leaders (and midwives) to influence and contribute to this substantial change agenda.

In the course of the project she has been making contact with nurse leaders, in the UK and globally, who have enabled and supported significant digital change (for example through the introduction of an EHCR) to learn how this was successfully achieved, looking particularly at the digital/informatics capabilities and leadership skills of the individuals engaged in programmes of work.

Sites she has engaged with so far include Cambridge University Hospitals Trust and Imperial College Healthcare Trust, London, visiting nurse leaders and speaking to front-line staff directly in clinical areas.

Angela is planning a number of international visits in 2018, to take forward this important work and make connections to enable future knowledge exchange. Her visits should enable her to talk directly to senior nursing and midwifery teams who have led uni/multi-professional transformation to adopt new ways of working and practices for the purpose of implementing a whole system digital change. The product of this work will be a publication for the Foundation adding to the existing knowledge in this important area of practice.

In March 2017, Angela was elected Chair of a Five Country Nursing and Midwifery Leadership e-Health Group comprising senior professional digital leadership from Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The aim of this group is to support nursing and midwifery practice by promoting the safe use of digital health and social care technologies across the five countries of the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Dec 11, 2017 | Clinical informatics, Community of Practice HISA, Featured

What are you currently doing?

Writing, reading, relaxing….. and speaking when I get a chance!

When did you realise technology would be useful in healthcare?

It was all about the data, and how it could be used to make predictions and about when was the right time to put patients with chronic renal disease on dialysis. Also a need to detect change in clinical markers after renal transplantation, to tell us when a patient was starting to reject their transplanted kidney and to initiate investigation and increase anti-rejection therapy.

The nephrology discipline is more numerate than many others because of the volume of data that needs to be managed longitudinally when patients have kidney disease. Nephrology is rich in the needs for trend analysis and event detection of many kinds. Not only the quantity of data but the fact that it will only make sense if considered with what went before and, where it might be going.

Early in my role as a specialist nephrologist I started drawing graphs on specialised graph paper. Rapidly we found this not to be realistic by hand because of the volume of data. I also appreciated that by developing statistical algorithms we could quantify change and our prediction of trends.

How did your clinical career lead you to getting involved in clinical informatics?

An interest in chronobiology got me interested in informatics. Chronobiology examines periodic (cyclic) phenomena in living organisms, the cycles known as biological rhythms. Applying chronobiology principles to medicine Initially this was in looking at blood pressure variations and later at immune-suppression. At what time to give medications? Could we get a better result or less toxicity at different times?

What aspirations for the future of healthcare kept you going?

Facilitating the use of graphic systems to provide longitudinal trend data to treat individual patients, with the potential to build in algorithms to alert clinicians and patients to important change.

Any memorable experiences you are willing to share?

In 1983, after I left nephrology at Nottingham, I transferred myself to Obstetrics to create a Medical Information Technology Unit, at Queens Medical Centre. At Queens we directed computing at the process of having a baby, which is not dissimilar to having a transplant in many ways – making the system we had developed for nephrology very highly suited. Midwives were a bit different from renal nurses but certainly they too are very strong-minded people and very important. We had realised from talking to clinical staff that it is a good idea to please the people who were important. We set out to please the midwives! Their main gripe in life was the amount of paperwork they had to do. We focused the system on the activity at the end of birth, when midwives had to collate all the paperwork to send off in the various directions. It would take them 2 hours after a baby was born before that job was completed. By focusing use of the computer on the post-delivery process we got great enthusiasm and the project went very well.

At another site (also putting in a system for Obstetrics) the focus was on producing information for the Regional Authority, who had funded that project. There was very little gain for the midwives and much extra keyboard inputting. When Christmas and New Year came around all the computer development team went home. When they came back to the Hospital, with the Regional Authority system, the midwives just refused to use the system – they’d had enough – with extra work putting in data for managers without visible benefit at the clinical level. At Queen’s, using the system with the needs of the midwives taken into account, this produced data for management as a by-product, with very little non-clinical work needed from midwives.

When you look back, what is your sense about then and now?

In spite of the investment in IT health information systems they are not as good as they could be.

Presentation of information when it is shared between clinicians is still often not good and may not arrive before the patient arrives! Many hospitals send out discharge summaries to GPs only as a text summary. Selected graphic representation of data, correlated with text, e.g. medication type and dose, could convey a more insightful story of the patient’s illness episode in the context of the past and the future. There is a need when presenting information graphically to incorporate data that has been shared between both hospital and community healthcare providers.

Philosophically it would seem that clinical systems have often been designed to replicate the design of the paper record, rather than step back and explore what the computer can do to enhance the paper record, the workflow and help the clinician.

What advice would you give those currently working in and shaping the future of (IT-enabled) healthcare?

We need to be collecting more data (not less) so that we can better detect change e.g. in the patient’s response to treatment. Presenting to the clinician, data in a time series (the longer the period the better!) and presenting data graphically is one way we could achieve better integration of data and integration between health care providers…… using data as the link.

I have not been aware of enough meetings that bring together clinical and informatics specialities and which encourage fertilisation and cross-boundaries between medical sub-specialties. My example, of moving from nephrology to obstetrics, enabled us to apply lessons learned in nephrology to design a better system for obstetrics.

There has been lots of enthusiasm for computers, but often it has gone down a single track, usually as a natural instinct to stay with what we know and in our own area of interest. I would implore the future workforce collaborates more.

All nominations close at 7pm AEST on Monday 29 April 2019

The online consultation is part of a nationwide series of discussions used to co-design the National Health Interoperability Roadmap, which will agree the standards and priorities required to achieve a more modern digitally connected health system in Australia.

The Roadmap is a key priority of the National Digital Health Strategy, which was approved by all states and territories through the Council of Australian Government (COAG) Health Council in 2017.

The National Digital Health Strategy highlights the importance of connected health services and calls for the definition of standards to support interoperability that will support clinicians, patients and citizens make the best health and care decisions.

The online consultation survey is now available.

Submissions close Monday 1 July 2019

DOWNLOAD THE NEW GUIDE HERE

For enquiries go to belinda@hisa.org.au

All members are encouraged to share call for papers around their networks with this link:

https://www.hisa.org.au/hic/papers/

If you are a new member and you haven't attended annual conference before - make sure you mark it in the calendar when HISA returns to Melbourne with HIC 2019 on August 12-14 with pre-conference events including the Nursing Informatics Australia conference on Sunday 11 August. 

Tuesday March 19

Via GoToWebinar

12pm-1pm

Everyone is on board with usability and user experience design, but how do you know when you’ve got a good (or a bad!) experience?

Register now to join our free webinar when Dr Chris Marmo, from Paper Giant, provides practical examples of how everyone from clinicians and leaders to design and product teams can evaluate the user experience of clinical systems and and environments, with some tips on what to do with what they learn.

Share this link with non-member colleagues to promote the event.

https://hisa.site-ym.com/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1209035&group=

Everyone welcome to attend.

Thank you to sponsors Accenture and AeHRC as well as supporting organisation AIIA.

https://innovatinghealth.org.au/breakfasts/artificial-intelligence-facilitating-the-digital-transformation-of-health/

HISA members are invited to be part of the public consultation process to ensure the position statement is:

• comprehensive,
• well supported with available evidence,
• advocates for the role of allied health professionals in digital health and informatics, and
• offers a valuable resource for allied health professionals, health service managers and digital health leaders

Below are links to the draft paper and the consultation survey for both individuals or organisations. If you would prefer to provide written feedback, please send this to HISA’s Leadership and Advocacy Director, Dr Josie Di Donato.

The consultation period closes on 18 March 2019.

Download position paper

Survey for individuals

Survey for organisations

Australia’s Digital Health Executive Network (DHEN) is an initiative of HISA following demand from members who expressed the need for professional development and recognition schemes recognising their unique roles in healthcare.

Planning is underway for a certification program and the first professional development event will be held as part of HIC 2018 in Sydney on 29 July.

The Australian Digital Health Executives Network has been formed by a collaboration of senior digital health executives across Australia: Chair Richard Royle (PwC Australia), Dr Richard Ashby (CEO, eHealth Queensland), Dr Zoran Bolevich (Chief Executive, eHealth NSW), Prof Keith McNeil (CCIO, Queensland Health), David Kempson (Group Chief Digital Officer, Mater Health Services), Sharon Hakkennes (CIO, Barwon Health), Ann Larkins (Executive Director, Information Development, Alfred Health) and Dr David Hansen (CEO, Australian eHealth Research Centre).

Chair Richard Royle said: “Digital health executives are at the forefront of guiding Australia’s health sector into its digital future. “There is currently no executive certification for digital health however Australia’s future health system needs top performing, credentialed leadership.

“This program will equip them for the leadership role they have in health’s digital future.”

HISA CEO Dr Louise Schaper said: “Digital health executives are a growing workforce in the health sector, but despite their numbers they tell us they can feel isolated and under pressure. In response to these issues, the Network will include Chatham House Rule forums for executive leaders in digital health to share information, collaborate and network. It’s important that executives in digital health are supported in their roles and in their professional development.”

The first professional development event is at HIC 2018 in Sydney, on Sunday 29 July. If you or someone you know is interested in the DHEN, please complete an expression of interest form.

HIC brings together healthcare professionals from all corners of the Australian digital health community to hear the latest on research, global trends and implementation news. The first HIC was held before the growth of the Internet and personal computers.  This year’s topics are those impacting healthcare globally including precision medicine and genomics; cybersecurity, quality and safety; rights to use of health data; the rise of artificial intelligence; the movement for UX user experience.

The three-day HIC 2018 features expert speakers, clinical case studies, industry presentations, papers and posters; 13 masterclasses and workshops, a prestigious awards night, an innovation expo and the best digital health networking opportunities in Australia.

In addition there are three special pre-HIC events on Sunday 29 July: NIA 2018 a dedicated nursing informatics conference; an IHE workshop for technical aspects of digital health and a ground-breaking health UX conference.

Review the full program now to organise your trip to Sydney before Early Bird rates end on 4 June. There are discounts available for group bookings from healthcare organisations. Follow conference news on social media and stay connected @HISA_HIC and #HIC2018

Renew your membership before March 30, and go into the draw to win one of many rewards in the $4,500+ prize pool!

The prizes include:

• Tickets to HIC 2018
• Tickets to the Australian Telehealth Conference 2018
• Tickets to Health Data Analytics 2018
• CHIA registration and study guide
• $200 pre-paid VISA card
• Vouchers for Red Balloon adventures
• iTunes vouchers
• Vouchers for your city’s hottest restaurants
• Books

Members look out for your renewal notice emails this week!

Until March 30, anyone who joins HISA or renews will go into the draw to win one of many rewards in the $4,500+ prize pool!

The prizes include:

• Tickets to HIC 2018
• Tickets to the Australian Telehealth Conference 2018
• Tickets to Health Data Analytics 2018
• CHIA registration and study guide
• $200 pre-paid VISA card
• Vouchers for Red Balloon adventures
• iTunes vouchers
• Vouchers for your city’s hottest restaurants
• Books

For details go to https://www.hisa.org.au/hisa-renewathon/

We hope these groups will help us reach out to more people working in e-health, health informatics and digital health and seeking high quality, affordable professional development.

If you use Meetup Groups or know people who do, please join our groups and help us spread the word!

Sydney: http://www.meetup.com/Health-Informatics-E-Health-and-Digital-Health-Sydney/

Melbourne: http://www.meetup.com/Health-Informatics-E-Health-and-Digital-Health-Melbourne/

If you know non-members who are interested in attending state branch events but don't use Meetup Groups, let them know they can receive monthly emails about our state branch events by signing up to the HISA Events email list.

Call for papers is now open! To find out more go to http://sim.unisa.edu.au/hikm

The Australian Association of Practice Managers (AAPM) has appointed Gillian Leach as its new CEO, taking over from Dean Barton-Smith.

Ms Leach has extensive experience in health service management, her previous role being CEO of Whitehorse Community Health Service in Melbourne. She is also a former CEO of Arthritis South Australia and executive director of Osteoarthritis Australia.

Read the full article on the Pulse+IT website.