A revolutionary digital platform designed to seamlessly transfer critical medical information between aged care homes and hospitals has undergone testing by Peninsula Health and National Centre for Healthy Ageing, ushering in a new era of streamlined, patient-centered healthcare.
The 10-month trial, led by Professor Nadine Andrew and implemented by Dr Katrina Long, saw the integration of the Digital Health Summary in three aged care sites in the Frankston/Mornington Peninsula region, in partnership with Peninsula Health, South Eastern Primary Health Network and Ambulance Victoria.
According to Professor Andrew, the study’s promising early results stem largely from the successful integration of the Digital Health Summary into pre-existing systems at aged care homes, Peninsula Health and General practitioner (GP) systems.
“From a technical perspective, the study worked really well. We were able to successfully develop a novel piece of technical infrastructure to securely share the resident summary. Pre-registration of all participating aged care residents with Peninsula Health, ensured that when they arrived at the hospital, staff could quickly access their digital health summary through the person’s Cerner home page,” explains Professor Andrew.
The trial also received strong support from aged care staff, who embraced the new system during feasibility testing.
“We had really good buy-in from residential aged care homes – staff were welcoming and supportive of the project,” Professor Andrew notes.
“They loved receiving the discharge summary, as Peninsula Health currently sends these directly to GPs, meaning aged care providers previously had limited timely access to these critical records on behalf of their residents,” she adds.
Throughout the 10 months, several refinements were made based on feedback. GP alerts were introduced to notify healthcare providers when a resident was transferred to hospital or returned to aged care, enhancing continuity of care. One of the most notable upgrades was the addition of a direct link to the medication management system, ensuring vital medication information was readily available for clinicians.
With the trial now concluded, the next step is data collection and evaluation to assess the tool’s impact on hospital transfers, readmissions and adverse events and understand its usability from an end user perspective. Researchers plan to seek further funding to expand implementation and improve digital health integration across healthcare settings, improving patient care for the many thousands of older Australians living in residential aged care.