Perioperative solution live in Waikato

eHealthNews.nz: Clinical Software

Thursday, 6 July 2023

Share |

NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

Te Whatu Ora Waikato went live with a perioperative information management system in May, providing real-time insight into the impact of interventions during surgery and freeing up anaesthetists to focus on patient care.

The system, called IPro, uses telemetry to pull data from machines used pre, during and post-surgery, including those measuring vital signs such as blood pressure, pulse, and breath rate, as well as those administering medications.

The solution is now live in 20 theatres, including at Thames Hospital, with the remaining 10 due to go-live by the end of June.

More than 300 procedures have been completed using the anaesthesiology system and the longest was 23.5 hours, where it was managing and monitoring the entire time.

Garry Johnston, interim regional lead, data and digital Te Manawa Taki, says the data generated by machines was previously recorded manually on paper by clinicians in the theatre.

You’ve read this article for free, but good journalism takes time and resource to produce. Please consider supporting eHealthNews by becoming a member of HiNZ, for just $17 a month.

While clinicians have done an incredible job with the tools available, the new system automatically records data and insights, freeing up the anaesthetics team to focus on the patient.

“It is giving us real time insight about what exactly was administered during the surgery, what interventions were taken by the anaesthetics team, and showing biofeedback about how effective those interventions were,” he explains.

Johnston says the potential is huge now that the solution is in place and health professionals are, “no longer waiting to receive information, but can consume it at the time that it is being generated.

“Clinicians now have at their fingertips, real time data from a variety of different sources inside the theatre that help them make decisions to drive better performance,” he says.

Moving from paper charts to a digital solution means the data being collected by the machines is also available for others to review, analyse and take action on.

“The insight that previously stayed within the theatre is now available to clinicians to help them learn, coach, grow and develop,” Johnston says.

“It helps build a real data source of how people respond to different interventions, including those in our community that differ from the standardised norms from overseas.”

This data source will be used to identify the optimal use of drugs, devices and procedures to drive quality improvement processes, to improve patient outcomes.

Live information also can be viewed by the post-operative care team to give an early indication of how a surgery has gone and what level of treatment the patient will need on the ward.

Johnston says the development and implementation of the solution was not run like a traditional technology project. Clinicians have been involved as product owners at every stage of the process, while the system has been iteratively delivered and refined.

“It was very much a collaboration between the clinicians, the IT team, and the third-party vendors,” he says.

“We've adopted a way of working which is outcome-focused, solution-centric, and genuinely partnership-based, and we never lost sight of doing what is right for the patient.”