Dunedin develops online surgical care plans

NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

Dunedin Hospital and Otago University have developed online care plans in collaboration with SHI Global to help improve patient outcomes after surgery.

John Woodfield, colorectal surgeon at Dunedin Hospital and senior lecturer at Otago University, presented on the project as part of HiNZ’s Digital Health Conference in March 2022.

He said the aims of developing the Go Well Health Surgical Carepacs is to provide better information and opportunity for patients to engage in their medical care, in order to reduce complications of surgery, help patients recover more quickly and improve patient satisfaction.

A review of 500 patients discharged from Dunedin Hospital found 45 percent developed a postoperative problem.

Woodfield said there is evidence that four weeks of preoperative exercise reduces surgical complications, but there was no preoperative programs available for patients.

There was also minimal contact with allied health services, such as physiotherapists, prior to surgery which could impact on things such as discharge from hospital.

To help solve these issues, the hospital and university partnered with Kiwi IT company SHI Global, which provides the Go Well Health platform.

The Surgical Carepacs provide personalised care plan with patient information in the form of PDFs, videos, questionnaires and exercise programs, and users can invite a support person on to the programme.

The preoperative section includes information about disease and the operation that will be performed, also about anesthesia and the risks of surgery. There is also an optimisation section which looks at what can be done to reduce the risks of surgery, and help the patient prepare.

If the patient is recovering in hospital, there are daily updates discussing what is likely to happen that day a daily, as well as summaries and videos of the exercises that patients will be doing to help improve their recovery after surgery.

The platform allows the medical team to directly contact patients, to highlight important messages and flag tasks such as questionnaires that need to be completed.

“Participants who think they'll struggle with the technology are often helped by having a support person and there's also a communication tab where the patient can contact the program coordinator and therefore the medical team,” Woodfield said.

The pilot was rolled out first to colorectal patients and the patients also rate the content, providing real time feedback.

Woodfield said patients have reported that the platform helps them to cope with anxiety around a diagnosis of cancer and surgery and to make lifestyle changes to improve their outcomes.

Future developments include cultural co-design for Māori and Pasifika patients and development of Total Cancer Carepacs, both supported by grants from the Health Research Council.

If you are registered for the HiNZ Digital Health Conference, you can watch Woodfield’s presentation in the on-demand library.

Picture: John Woodfield presenting at the HiNZ Digital Health Conference in March 2022


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