Roy Chiang

“Zoom became the primary form of communication and the data cap was increased dramatically,” said Dr Alan Davis, Clinical Director for Northland District Health Board.

In a recent HIMSS webinar, Dr Chun-Wen Chang (Infectious Disease Specialist, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital Taiwan) reveals the steps the country has taken that has allowed it to successfully mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

The COVID-19 epidemic has impacted many lives all around the world and the Australian government has ramped up its efforts to deal with it. In the recent HIMSS webinar, “92 days in a pandemic”, hosted by Tim Kelsey (Senior Vice President of HIMSS), with speakers Chris Mitchell (Executive Director of Information Communications, Hunter New England) and Paul Craven (Executive Direction of Young People and Families, Hunter New England), they shed light on the strategies which have been planned and implemented thus far.    Hunter New England Local Health District (LHD) provides a range of public health services to the Hunter, New England and Lower Mid North Coast regions in New South Wales, Australia.   Why is this so important?   Prior to COVID-19, the healthcare system in Australia had already recognised the importance of digital health. This has provided great aid to the nation in its battle against the virus as reflected by the now flattening of the curve reflecting the number of corona virus cases within the country. However, the Australian government continues to remain vigilant with its efforts as extensive mass screenings have been conducted and the adoption of telehealth services continues to become more ubiquitous.    Mitchell and his team devised a strategy centred around infection prevention and control to deal with the highly virulent and contagious nature of the virus. This strategy comprises of five key components as part of Australia’s digital health response to the COVID-19 pandemic.   • Screening and the case definition • Data and insights • Telehealth and clinical education • Scale the systems • Uninterrupted operations   Mass screenings and extensive testing in local health districts are conducted on patients who display any form of respiratory symptoms or a fever in order to ensure that the patients diagnosed with the virus are swiftly quarantined to eliminate any possibilities of it spreading to other individuals. Geographical maps were also drawn out to map patients across districts to determine if there were any clusters of individuals with the virus before conducting mass screening in those clusters. Both medical as well as mental support is then provided to patients inflicted with COVID-19.    A COVID-care home service was set up where a team of professionals would make daily contact with these patients in their own homes either via phone calls, video conferences or visited by the homecare team to prevent the overwhelming of healthcare resources in hospitals. Only patients with deteriorating health conditions would then be sent to hospitals where intensive care would be provided to them.   Patients positively diagnosed with the virus are kept at home so that they would not enter the healthcare system and detailed contact tracing would be conducted. Tight checks are also maintained on Personal Protective Equipments (PPE) and their movements within the entire healthcare ecosystem in order to determine the quantity required at each healthcare facility within the country. This has effectively served to help prevent the shortage of PPEs within healthcare system which numerous other nations have faced.    On the record   “We developed a screening tool to automatically screen our patients via SMS”, says Mitchell. This helped to greatly reduce the effort needed by healthcare professionals to screen each and every patient before they were sent to a medical facility, adding to the efficiency of the system. He also added that “telehealth obviously went nuts in this time”, as the requests for telehealth services over Skype and Scorpia surged. The public was also educated on how to use such technology appropriately as well as determining when it was clinically appropriate to use it.    The full recording is available here (registration required).  

This article is the third and last in our series of articles focusing on the upcoming HIMSS Australia Digital Health Summit (ADHS) breakout tracks. (Refer to the first article on the Data track here and second article on the Innovation track here.) With the rapid advancement of healthcare technology and the options made available, the demands placed on healthcare providers have inevitably increased as well. In turn, this has stimulated numerous improvements in the capabilities of healthcare systems as well as that of the handling of patients. Empowering patients could be regarded as one of the most significant improvements as it also brings about improved patient outcomes.  Achieving empowerment through interoperability of data Interoperability simply refers to a healthcare system which is more connected. By achieving interoperability of data, healthcare information can be transferred easily between people, organisations and systems. This shared information has its meaning preserved from one context to another so that information can always be interpreted in the same way. The topic of interoperability and connected care will be covered in greater detail at the ADHS event by Hal Wolf (President and CEO of HIMSS), Tim Kelsey (CEO of Australian Digital Health Agency) and Mary Foley (Managing Director of Telstra Health) at CXO Fireside Chat- Connected Care. Achieving empowerment through improved patient data/security In light of the recent cyber-attacks that hit hospitals and health services in Victoria, much attention has been drawn to the areas of improvement in patient data and security. By being able to closely safeguard patient’s data, the integrity of such information would not be compromised and this would allow them to continue making informed decisions when participating in their own treatments, further reinforcing the empowerment given to them. In addition to that, controlled access can also be given when it comes to the sharing of patient data and patients would be able to nominate representatives who are allowed legal access to their own private medical information.   During the panel discussion, Patient Data: Access, Privacy and Ownership at the ADHS event, John Daniels, Global VP of HIMSS Analytics will be joined with several other highly esteemed leaders in the healthcare industry to discuss in detail the benefits as well as implications involved when it comes to managing patient data and security. Better managing chronic illnesses with empowerment Being afflicted with a chronic illness can undoubtedly prove to be overwhelming and takes a huge toll on one’s emotional as well as physical health. By empowering patients with the relevant knowledge and skills, this would greatly help to mitigate the pain and suffering that they have to endure. When patients are armed with the necessary and reliable healthcare information about the disease and its treatment and management, this allows them to have a greater sense of control over this illness and pushes them a step closer towards conquering it. Also, patients can gain a more profound understanding of their medication and any special instructions which it requires as well as its related side effects to better manage any ensuing pain and fatigue.  At the ADHS event, Renza Scibilia who is also a manager and diabetes advocate at Diabetes Australia, would address the issues revolving around management of a chronic illness at her session, Can the Reality of Living with a Lifelong Health Condition be Appropriate? Registration for the ADHS event has commenced and more details can be found here.