A new real-time digital alert system at the Royal Hobart Hospital is “saving lives” by eliminating critical delays in patient care, health officials say.
The Patient Alert Management solution, introduced last November, has slashed notification times for critical patient information from 48 hours to just seconds.
Health Minister Jacquie Petrusma said the “big leap forward” is transforming how healthcare professionals manage everything from allergies to fall risks.
“It’s dramatically decreasing the paperwork of our hard-working healthcare professionals,” she said. “Most importantly, it allows [them] to be out providing patient care instead of having to fill in endless bits of paperwork.”
Emergency Clinical Nurse Consultant Kylie Shelverton said the system is already making a real difference in the emergency department.
“We quite often get new patients arriving that need pain relief. During our assessment, we might discover they have an allergy to morphine,” Shelverton said.
“Now we can actually enter that alert directly onto their digital medical record at the time and include information like the severity and the type of reaction.”
“That information then becomes available instantly to everyone across the Tasmanian Health Service.”
Director of Digital Health Lisa Hagstrom said the alert system is just the first step in a $476 million digital health transformation rolling out over the next decade.
“It’s not about delivering technology. It’s about changing the way we care for our patients in the community using digital solutions,” Hagstrom said.
The system has taken off quickly, with weekly usage jumping by 70%. Alert entries have surged from around 580 to 980 each week.
It marks the first milestone in Tasmania’s digital health strategy, which will eventually include a statewide electronic medical record and an integrated ambulance patient record.
