Meeting National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards – The Role of the Point-of-Care (POC) Audit Application

Abstract

We designed and deployed a point-of-care (POC) clinical information system on a Motion tablet to allow data collection at the bedside by specialist auditors in support of organizational clinical audit objectives. This initiative has been undertaken in the context of the new National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards for Australia. Collected data was then warehoused in a Microsoft SQL Server Environment in real time, allowing immediate feedback through corporate level reporting. The reporting framework consists of self-service non-interactive reports and scorecards, and self-service interactive reports (or dashboards) where users can seek detailed information from an organizational level down to a patient level. Information is presented both numerically and graphically, including in a traffic light paradigm, to highlight clinical risks and their relative urgency. This paper examines the implementation of this system, its drivers, and the lessons learned from this unique initiative.

Longitudinal evaluation of an electronic audit and feedback system for patient safety in a large tertiary hospital setting

“…1,4 In Australia, evidence of compliance with the National Safety and Quality in Health Service Standards (the ‘National Standards’) is required by hospitals to maintain accreditation status. 5,6 The overarching National Standards are (1) Clinical Governance, (2) Partnering with Consumers, (3) Preventing and Controlling Infections, (4) Medication Safety, (5) Comprehensive Care, (6) Communicating for Safety, (7) Blood Management, and (8) Recognising and Responding to Acute Deterioration.…”

The 4 R’s – Reason, REDCAP, Review and Research - In a Large Healthcare Organization

“…Several projects are currently using the Dynamic Data Pull (DDP) functionality of REDCap to validate the patient details -in the Team and Patient Assessment System (TAPAS) project in General Medicine for example, plus it will also be used in some upcoming nursing audit projects, including the re-creation of the Point of Care (POC) audit [7][8] in REDCap. The DDP feature allows data to be imported into the data collection instrument from an external source.…”

“…Some of the purported advantages of the "big data" paradigm are the ability to mine data sets for patterns, identify uncommon events and to unearth interesting or valuable insights As previously described in the literature [4], we have constructed a platform in this paradigm called The REASON Discovery Platform ® . We have also previously described some of the actual and potential value from the platform [5][6][7][8][9], including the development of a web based cohort identification tool [10], a prototype image analysis platform [11] and automated data collation and transmission to clinical registries [12][13][14] It can be difficult for readers to get a full appreciation of what is being attempted through the construction of the REASON platform as the means to address this technical need. There are 2 United States (US) based examples outlined below, that allow the reader to get a sense of the amount of work done to date to establish this infrastructure, and the direction of travel of the platform.…”

An evaluation of an electronic audit and feedback system for patient safety in a tertiary hospital setting: A study protocol

“…Evidence of compliance with the National Standards is required by Australian hospitals to achieve accreditation status (see Table 1 below). 25,26 In 2017, a Western Australian tertiary hospital commenced development of a novel electronic audit and feedback (e-A&F) system, Consumer-Engaged National Standards Audits (CENSAs). This system was designed to collect evidence against the National Standards, support staff to learn about their performance, and improve delivery of care.…”