Electronic health messaging- The Geelong experience Dr Jeff Urquhart - GP Liaison Officer Barwon Health - ITIM program manager Geelong Division of General.

Electronic health messaging-

The Geelong experience

Dr Jeff Urquhart- GP Liaison Officer Barwon Health- ITIM program manager Geelong Division of General

Practice- Geelong Hospital clinical assistant- GP in spare time

BackgroundGood breading ground for IT projects

1 central public hospital210 GPs

Mostly under 1 division of general practice

200+ specialists98% associated with public hospital

2 predominant software vendors1 main pathology provider2 radiology providersAbility to liaise between hospital, GPs & specialists

BackgroundBarwon Health

400 beds40,000 EMD attendances per yearCORDis

Filemaker ProIn house development teamCIS introduced 2001 to all clinical unitsFunded till June 2003 EDPS

Surgical professor clinical champion

Current ProjectsEmailed encrypted HL7 discharge summaries (Equery)Emailed encrypted HL7 radiology reports (Equery)Templates for referral to surgical outpatients and antenatal clinic

Currently faxedAbility now to email using PKI (pilot testing)

Radiology Reports & Discharge Summaries

High use of CORDis80% summaries completed within 2/24 of patient discharge

Equery v2Simple to set up as already used by pathology in GeelongNo cost to GPsUses FTPInterfaces with all windows based GP softwareNo PKI required however will migrate practices to PKI with ver 3 late 2004

Radiology Reports & Discharge Summaries

Equery v 2Pilot phase Feb 2003- July 2003 for discharge summariesCurrently 40 practices (160 GPs) on line – 80%Radiology messages from Agfa RIS commenced last week

ResultsVery stableFew failuresGP practice feedback

Decreased staff filing timeNo scanning requiredConsistent interface for checking pathology, discharge summaries and now radiology reports

Outpatients templates - lessons

Initial consultation lacking adequate clinical staffGP concerns

Inadequate consultation regarding change to business process with possible increased workloadGPs wanted information prompting and intelligent interface

Outpatient templates - lessons

ConsultantsToo much demographic informationToo difficult to find important information quickly including

Reason for referralWhich clinicAge of patientUrgency of referralPrevious consultant involved in Mx

Future projects 2004Emailed encrypted HL7 GP letters from smaller departments using ARGUS

EndocrinologyNeurosciencesPain clinicDiabetes referral centre

Roll out other referral templatesPain clinicDiabetes referral centreACAS

Other requirementsSet up mail server at divisionSet up consistent and permanent emailing address standards between hospital GPs and specialists ie

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