Issue 7
|
Electronic Medication Management a key focus for NEHTA (National E- Health Transition Authority)
In an article that appeared in the IT section of The Australian newspaper, it is clear that electronic medication management in aged care has
become a primary focus of NEHTA.
For background, NEHTA is the body set up by the governments of Australia to identify and foster the development of the right technology necessary to
deliver the best eHealth system. For more information, visit www.nehta.gov.au
The article from last week quotes Chief Executive Officer of NEHTA, Peter Fleming as saying:
"The aged care sector has agreed that all new projects will be based on NEHTA's standards, and we're working closely with them to ensure those programs
work well. One of the early activities will be electronic medication management. There are 40,000 hospitalisations each year from aged care residences, and
30 per cent are related to adverse drug events. We believe at least 75 per cent of those can be prevented, so that's a priority.”
Aged care providers need to be proactively assessing their own medication management processes and their ability to implement an electronic system. The
aged care industry is rapidly moving to utilise electronic systems to mitigate risk, especially in the area of medication management.
To read the complete article click here.
Chris Gray - Managing Director, iCare
Last days to enter the draw to win a Panasonic Rugged Camera for you and your aged care facility
The competition to win a Panasonic Rugged Camera for yourself and for your aged care facility will close on Monday 31st August 2009.
If you have already entered, you can receive more entries into the draw by completing the referral page. The more people you refer to receive a copy
of the eHealth in Aged Care Newsletter the more entries into the draw you will receive.
Click here to enter the draw.
Your View -
APHS – Darryl Grundy, General Manager
Medication Management is an area that has seen more advanced use of IT systems than in other areas of healthcare, in the form of prescribing and dispensing software.
Unfortunately these systems have never shared a common platform to enable initiatives such as e-prescribing to improve patient outcomes. eHealth provides this
platform and is the future of medication management. The national eHealth strategy envisages a ‘future health system powered by the smart use of data and enabled
by the electronic flow of essential information between individuals and health professionals’. Health professionals working in aged care share this vision and view
of eHealth as a means to develop efficiencies, facilitate effective communication, and most importantly reduce hospitalisation due to medication misadventure and
achieve quality use of medicines.
Aged care providers have come to realise the essential role that effective IT systems play in mitigating clinical and financial risk in the care of their residents.
iCare’s integration of a clinical and care solution with medication management completes the quality loop around clinical documentation, and links doctors, pharmacies
and care givers into one electronic system. This will go a long way toward eliminating medication errors, facilitate effective communication within the
multidisciplinary care team and enable enhanced medication review and audit functionality. This integrated system also provides a platform to ensure the aged care
industry enjoys the benefits of exciting national e-health initiatives such as a shared electronic health record.
eHealth has the potential to solve some of the long standing problems faced by health professionals in aged care:
The ability to bring health information from several different sources into a single view, providing decision support for health professionals in improving health
outcomes
The ability to achieve seamless transition into and out of the acute care sector for aged care residents
We are in sight of the medication management ‘Holy Grail’ where a prescriber alters a medication regimen on their prescribing software, the facility and pharmacy
are immediately notified and the medication chart automatically updated, eliminating the risk of transcribing and communication errors.
 Pdf version for print.
>>>Back to eHealth newsletters
|
|
|
