Improving communication between health professionals

1. A good healthcare system is the key
to a healthy society

2. Problem
• Vital information must be gathered by medical staff
• Patients cannot recall their own medical information
• Communication processes are long and complex
• It is difficult to attain vital information needed to draw
conclusions

3. Symptoms of the Problem
• Long wait times in Emergency Departments. (MoH, 2013)
• Delay before informed decisions can be made by
healthcare provider (GPs and ED)
• Lack of efficiency in quality and speed of service in
Emergency Departments
• Patients end up guessing their medications or dosages,
which can result in harm to health (Howell, 2014)

4. Causes of the problem
• Patients lack health information
• Poor communication between hospital specialists and
GPs
• GPs are not available 24 hours
• Lack of universal standardised IT system that supports
and backs up patient data

5. SYMPTOMS
* Long wait times *Delay before informed decisions are made
*Lack of efficiency
*Slow communication process
*Patients make guesses about needs
PROBLEM!!!
CAUSES
*Patients lack health information
*Poor communication between hospital specialists and GPs
*GPs are not available 24 hours
*Lack of standardised IT data system

6. Width and depth of the problem
• General Practitioners need to be kept up-to-date on
patient admission into hospital, diagnoses, care and
discharge (North, 1999).
• General Practitioners may not be able to provide
continuity of care without implementation of an electronic
database (Scott. et. al., 1985)
• It is a national health target to reduce waiting times in
Emergency Departments. (MoH, 2013).
• On average, waiting times in Emergency Departments
nationwide currently exceed 6 hours. (MoH, 2013).

7. Solution
• Patient Database
• Will consist of information such as patient booking times,
scans, reports, blood tests and current morbidities
(healthAlliance, 2011).
• Easily Accessible for all sectors of the healthcare system- from
hospitals, community specialists and nurses through to GPs
• Improves quality of information transfer between GPs and
hospital specialists.
• Password Protection to maintain patient privacy
• Information is readily available
• Promotes efficiency

8. Addressing Underlying Causes
• Facilitating information transfer amongst different
providers
• Information is available at the point of care
• More quality care based on transparent info
• Being part of a patient database results in more equitable
healthcare for patients who are not well-educated on what
their needs are.

9. Innovation
• Greater usability
• Currently, hospital and ED staff have to access multiple
databases and avenues in order to collect the right information.
• Solution provides timely and up to date information
• Current systems are not compatible or standardised.
• Information available in Primary health care is not transferrable
or available to hospitals.
• Standardized national system that promotes high benefit from
use
• Limits access to records, and promotes patient privacy

10. Value
• The expected benefits of a standardized national system are:
• Makes healthcare more efficient and effective
• More effective health plans prepared with more transparent
information
• Saves provider time that they can use to tend to more patients
• Reduction in ED wait times
• GPs are better informed of their patients needs- therefore can
provide more appropriate care and prevent re-hospitalizations
(Scott et. al., 1985)

11. KPI’s
• In order to measure efficiency, throughput of patients/hour
from ED pre and post implementation can be used as a
measure.
• Clinician satisfaction can be used as a measure of
effectiveness of the innovation.

12. References
• References
• healthAlliance. (2011). Care Connect. Retrieved from http://www.testsafe.co.nz/
• Howell, D. (2014, May 6), Nurses: Leveraging Medication Reconciliation to Deliver Quality Care [blog post].
Retrieved from http://www.fdbhealth.com/blog/2014/may/nurses-leveraging-medication-reconciliation-to-
deliver-quality-care/
• Witting, B., Hayes, B., Schenkel, S., & Drucker, B. (2013). Emergency Department Medication History
Taking: Current Inefficiency and Potential for a Self-Administered Form. The Journal of Emergency
Medicine , 105-110.
• Kirk. S, (2011). System gives easy access to patients' files. Retrieved from
http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/5478903/System-gives-easy-access-to-patients-files
• Ministry of Health. 2013. Targeting Waiting Times. Wellington: Ministry of Health
• Orion Health. (2014). Electronic Health Records. Retrieved August 16, 2014, from Orion Health:
https://www.orionhealth.com/nz/electronic-health-record
• Scott, R., Brown, L., & Clifford, P. (1985). Use of Health Services by Diabetic Persons II. Hospital
Admissions. 43-47.
• North, N. (2007). reforming New Zealand's health care system. International Journal of Public
Administration , 525-558.