Time for a change?
Generally speaking, healthcare professionals support the idea underpinning HealthConnect but, as always, the devil appears to be in the detail of implementation.
Staff in Katherine, and at the Wesley in Brisbane, are in the process of adopting a whole new approach to data entry and retrieval.
“Ultimately we hope it will be time neutral, but at this stage a lot of the staff are finding it a challenge to adopt the new data entry processes,” Armitage says.
When it comes to such change management, staff buy-in can’t be underestimated, according to Fletcher. Fletcher has, however, found old dogs can be taught new tricks given the right approach.
“For those who have been around for a while it’s still a lot easier to scribble out a discharge summary,” Fletcher says. “At the end of the day HealthConnect will be quicker for everyone involved and so long as they appreciate that they’re willing to put in the effort.”
Core to the long-term success of HealthConnect is that the data entry methods adopted by each individual agency and healthcare provider be time neutral.
“At the end of the day HealthConnect has to be quicker for us to use and access than the current system,” Fletcher says.
One group expressing concern regarding the HealthConnect processes are Australia’s general practitioners.
Dr Ron Tomlins, chair of the General Practitioners Computing Group (GPCG), says his constituents have embraced change and digitisation and support the HealthConnect process in principle, but are expressing concerns in regards to their role in its implementation.
“At this stage it’s not entirely clear how consent mechanisms are going to work for individual patients,” says Dr Tomlins. “Who is going to assist them to make an informed consent? It would take a GP up to half an hour to explain the procedures involved and they don’t have time to do that with every patient every day.”
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