Community Health Clinicians Prepare for an E-Health Future

With an increasing focus on e-Health, mobile technologies play a significant role in enabling information management at the point of care, which was integral to a new health precinct and associated models of care. This health precinct was being built in a northern suburb of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. In 2006, an Information Management Project was established under the governance of a formal project management methodology. The objective of the Information Management Project was to identify and deliver innovative and sustainable Information Communication Technologies (ICT) solutions, such as introducing mobile technologies, and to pave the way to an e-Health future for community health clinicians. Stakeholder consultation was an integral part of the project involving clinicians, administrative, technical, and management staff. During the planning phase of the project this consultation was essential to embed an implementation approach that was owned by the business. A range of service delivery processes were identified for evaluation. Lean thinking tools were used to compare the end-to-end path for these processes using the traditional models and the mobile technology model. Early results have seen a saving in clinical and administrative time in being able to respond immediately to the clients needs at the time of service. This project focused on a business integrated approach as technology alone would not deliver a sustainable solution. There are still a number of challenges to be addressed before broader implementation, particularly the need to review policies to achieve a more equitable alignment between strategic and operational requirements.