Data driven healthcare
Where healthcare and technology transformation converge WRITTEN BY
DANIEL BRIGHTMORE PRODUCED BY
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MIKE SADR
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Metro South Health drives innovation with its Digital Hospital Program. CIO Cameron Ballantine explains how the Queensland provider embraces business intelligence and analytics to deliver superior care via a real time view of patient information
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etro South Health provides healthcare services to 1.3mn people in Brisbane city with five in-patient facilities offering a total
of 2,100 beds. It became the first digitalised health service in Australia following the recent implementation of its integrated medical record (IMR). “Both the executive and the senior clinical leadership group see this as a unique and exciting platform to be able to innovate from,” says Metro South Health CIO Cameron Ballantine, who believes it’s vital in order to converge additional technologies and bring a higher level of efficiency and productivity to the health system. Innovations are welcomed at Metro South Health but for Ballantine, the key to healthcare is integration: “Integrating different siloed systems and applications to be able to present a more holistic and real time view of patients’ information to clinicians is critical to delivering the efficiencies and productivities we need to generate out of the
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system.” Clinicians at Metro are embracing real time access to data and analytics via the cloud. “It’s been hugely beneficial to us to be able to utilise that more agile higher level of compute power to ensure that patient level data is delivered through our enterprise data and analytics service in real time to help clinicians make decisions whilst they’re dealing with a patient,” explains Ballantine, who notes a 50% increase in the early identification of deteriorating patients thanks to the approach. w w w.me t ro so ut h.he a l t h.ql d . g ov. a u
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Leading the Digitisation of Healthcare to Improve Patient Care, Safety, and Outcomes How Metro South Health Enables Real-Time Care Team Communication and Improves Clinical Workflows Cameron Ballantine, CIO at Metro South Health Designing a Digital Hospital Program Metro South Health is a major hospital group in Australia leading the digitisation of healthcare in Queensland. As the Chief Information Officer, I lead our Digital Hospital Program across five facilities and implement solutions that will make it an enterprise-wide success. The program was launched approximately seven years ago and is focused on moving away from paper-based processes and toward an integrated digital ecosystem. The fundamental goals of the Digital Hospital Program are to improve patient care, safety, and outcomes while improving clinical workflows and operational efficiencies within the hospital group. Underpinning this strategy is the principle that information is available to clinicians in as near to real time as possible. Enabling Clinicians to Communicate in Real Time Vocera technology plays a critical role in assisting us achieve our digital program objectives. Many of our staff members depend on the Vocera® Badge, a small, wearable voice-controlled communication device that enables care team members to communicate hands-free. In addition to improving clinical workflows and patient experience, the wireless device is helping safeguard our patients and staff. One of our physiotherapists was doing a walking exercise with a patient in a stairwell when the patient collapsed. The physiotherapist pressed the call button on the Vocera Badge and made a broadcast to request assistance, which was quickly responded to and support staff arrived in a matter of seconds. If Vocera technology had not been in place, the staff member would have had to either wait with the patient in the hope assistance arrived or leave the patient to find someone. Our medical & surgical units are very busy, and we have patients at varying levels of acuity supported by complex, multidisciplinary care teams. With the Vocera system, staff members do not need to remember phone numbers or who is available or on call. They can connect with the
right person or group with a simple voice command such as “call a Peri-Op Nurse” or “call blue team.” Team members can communicate quickly, share information, or organise a meeting without wasting time looking for each other. This seamless connectivity improves patient care and the care team experience. Creating an Ideal Healing and Working Environment After implementing Vocera technology, it was much easier for people to connect with the right person. Our clinicians went into healthcare to care for patients, not to wander the hospital halls looking for help. Inefficient processes and breakdowns in communication can take clinicians away from the patient bedside. Because of the Vocera solution our staff have fewer interruptions and can focus on what matters most: the patient and providing high-quality compassionate care. The additional time our clinicians can spend with patients has resulted in improvements to patient experience, care, and safety. Vocera technology has enabled a quieter environment; we no longer have loud overhead paging. The technology has fantastic voice recognition and can distill the voice of the person speaking from any surrounding noise. Staff have naturally gravitated to speaking normally into the device rather than projecting their voices to their colleagues. Many patients have told us that the quietness has contributed to creating a more peaceful, healing environment. A senior clinical employee of ours was recently admitted to a very busy clinical unit and shared her positive healthcare experience at Metro South Health in a social media post. She said, “I significantly noticed how quiet it was while I was lying there both pre-and post-surgery.” Because of patient feedback like this and sound data indicating improvements in clinical workflows, we’ve expanded the use of Vocera technology throughout Metro South Health. We are looking for new ways to apply it as we continue to digitise our service to improve the overall healthcare experience.
“IT is no longer a service into healthcare: it is fundamentally part of healthcare” — Cameron Ballantine, CIO, Metro South Health
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One of the pillars of Metro’s digital
that will present information to the
health strategic framework is business
clinical decision makers about what
intelligence. “We’re looking at partner-
they need to address next to avoid the
ing with both different sectors of
ED becoming congested.” Currently,
industry and academia to look at use
Metro is partnering with a vendor to
cases and run precision analytics and
develop this solution, which will build
machine learning,” reveals Ballantine.
on its existing real time patient informa-
“For example, we would look at
tion including the number of patients,
predictive analytics in and around our
their condition and their stage in the
emergency departments. At a given
care cycle.
point in the day, we run a machine
Managing the flow of care is a priority
learning algorithm over it to analyse
for Ballantine with tertiary level emer-
the acuity and seriousness of the
gency departments in Queensland under
conditions of the patient in ED, and
inordinate stress across the system.
“We’re trying to look for efficiencies of
external to the organisation, and share
patient flow, from our ambulance
or seek information about the patient
services into the ED and into our
they’re dealing with in real time. “We
hospitals,” he says. “Because those
did a time and motion study prior to
types of initiatives can only benefit the
the implementation of Vocera,”
public and the patients that are being
explains Ballantine. “Following its
admitted to hospital.”
integration, we learned it was putting
Metro South Health’s long-standing
45 minutes back into the clinician’s day
partnership with Vocera Communica-
over an eight hour shift, increasing the
tions has played a big part in delivering
time they can spend providing patient
those patient benefits. “They’re not just
care. It’s been inordinately beneficial.”
selling us a product,” asserts Ballan-
He reveals a case where a physio was
tine. “They work with us to meet the
doing exercise work with a patient in
organisation’s goals.” The voice grade
a stairwell when they became unwell.
wifi Vocera provides allows clinicians
Having Vocera allowed for assistance
to contact other clinicians, internal or
to be summoned immediately, improv-
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Cameron Ballantine Cameron Ballantine has more than two decades of experience in healthcare. A registered nurse with seven years of clinical experience in intensive care and advanced life support, coupled with eight years working in healthcare management, he is well placed to understand the diverse IT needs of healthcare practitioners. Ballantine’s digital experience includes service delivery transformation to support changing models of care associated with digital hospitals and leading the implementation of data analytics and predictive modelling to support patient care.
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$2.3bn+ Annual budget
2007
Year founded
14,000+ Approximate number of employees
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ing patient outcomes in an emergency. Ballantine believes Metro South
learned from the successes with
Health understands how technology
Princess Alexandra Hospital and how
and healthcare are converging: “IT is
will this further support the roll out of
no longer a service into healthcare: it is
its Digital Hospital Program? “We
fundamentally part of healthcare.
experienced a myriad of unrealised
Whilst it will never take away that
efficiency and benefits,” affirms
doctor, nurse or allied health profes-
Ballantine of what he sees as more
sional dealing with a patient one on
than just an IT project. He is proud of
one, it’s able to augment how that
the community outcome that enables
interaction occurs.”
rural country hospitals (such as
Metro South Health opened
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sions decrease by 18%. What has it
Beaudesert) to offer a connected
Australia’s first digital hospital in 2015,
service for patients, minimising the
which, thanks to IMR,
need for transfers while allowing
has seen re-admis-
them to be treated in their hometown.
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘METRO SOUTH HEALTH –WHAT IS A DIGITAL HOSPITAL?’ 13 Ballantine comes from a clinical background. Having spent nearly a decade working as a nurse in a tertiary level intensive care unit, he understands the concerns of clinicians and how best to manage change. “This business change process and the integration of the project needed to come from the clinicians. When we were building the application, the clinical work had to inform how the project was going to process so the clinical fraternity could own the application. They had to understand where the efficiencies were going to w w w.me t ro so ut h.he a l t h.ql d . g ov. a u
“ We’re trying to look for efficiencies of patient flow, from our ambulance services into the ED and on to our hospitals” 14
— Cameron Ballantine, CIO, Metro South Health
come for them, how it was going to
“It reveals where the patients are in the
affect their day, and the clinical safety
hospital that are on these drugs, and
and quality aspects it was going to
what their current results are, along
deliver for their patients.”
with physiological observations such
While meeting the challenge of proac-
as blood pressure so they can make
tively embracing technology, Ballantine
the best decision on how a patient is
sees an opportunity to revolutionise
to be treated.”
healthcare in Australia by reducing
Looking ahead, Ballantine is excited
the risk associated with drug treat-
about broadening Metro’s digital
ments, particularly insulin and blood
approach to care with its Future Labs
thinners. “We’ve been able to leverage
initiative: “We’ll be opening the doors
a centralised repository of data and use
to issues clinicians are seeing, to bring
analytics to put the information in front
design thinking and agile principles to
of the relevant specialties,” he explains.
work through a problem over a short
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period of time with the clinical groups
discharged, allowing clinicians to offer
to come up with a product or a solution
them regular advice and support.
that would assist in resolving an
Pushing into the next decade,
identified issue.” Allied to this, Metro
Ballantine is keen to see an executive
will also be encouraging practitioner
approved, clinically endorsed strate-
education through research initiatives
gic digital health framework in place.
in Brisbane with the proposed Digital
“Going forward, I would like to be working
Collaboration Centre. Beyond what
with our clinical colleagues to prioritise
Metro is able to achieve in patient care,
the next pieces of technology we’ll
Ballantine is pleased about its
deliver to further converge technology
emerging virtual care hub. It’s explor-
with healthcare and ultimately provide
ing the potential of wearables to
better health outcomes.”
feedback information from chronically unwell patients who have been w w w.me t ro so ut h.he a l t h.ql d . g ov. a u
www.metrosouth.health.qld.gov.au