Centric applications rolled-out to North Island hospitals

NEWS  - eHealthNews editor Rebecca McBeth

The Centric suite of clinical tools are being rollout across North Island hospitals as part of the Health New Zealand’s Accelerate programme to improve patient safety.

The programme is being rolled out under the direction of chief executive Dale Bramley and emergency departments are reporting significant improvements in patient safety and clinical decision-making since implementation began.

The Centric Notes, Observations & Snapshot products, developed inhouse at Health NZ Waitematā, are now live at hospitals in the Northern Region and Waikato, Taranaki and Hawera hospitals in Midland.

Implementation into Gisborne Hospital is planned for mid-June, and Tauranga, Whakatane, Rotorua, Taupo, and Thames will follow as soon as infrastructure can be put in place.   Planning for roll-out to hospitals in the Central Region is underway, and planned to start within the next three months.

Stuart Bloomfield, director data & analytics for Planning Funding & Outcomes says the programme aims to complete implementation across Northern Region hospitals by 2026, with Te Manawa Taki and Central regions following by 2027.

Other tools in the Centric suite – including an ED / Inpatient Whiteboard, Shared Goals of Care, Shared Worklists  and Quantum – which delivers structured forms & pathways - are already live across the Northern Region, and are being incrementally implemented across the North Island.

Centric was implemented at Taranaki Base Emergency Department (ED) on 20 April and senior medical officer Timothy Petterson says the digital system provides real-time oversight of the entire ED, enabling clinicians to identify deteriorating patients more quickly and allocate resources effectively.

"The change has been transformative for our department, making nursing notes, patient vital signs and investigations readily available from any workstation," Petterson says.

"Previously we would have to hunt for observation charts and nursing notes and get infrequent updates which increased the risk of misses.

"On the first day of use I was able to more easily identify deteriorating patients and immediately see what interventions had been done and make timely treatment decisions,” he tells eHealthNews.

"As a lead clinician in a busy emergency department it has greatly increased my situational awareness and helped me to reprioritise limited resources accordingly."

Petterson says the rollout was staged to minimise staffing strain, beginning with electronic notes, then introducing Centric observations to replace the paper-based system, and finally transitioning to Centric-based digital triage.

Patient drug charts remain among the last paper-based documents in use during the transition period.

Bloomfield says there has been overwhelmingly positive feedback from clinicians using the system in recent Te Manawa Taki implementations.

"Clinicians report that the change has been easy, well supported, and they are asking for digitalisation of the rest of their workflow," he tells eHealthNews.

"The biggest challenge currently limiting the speed of the roll-out is addressing hospitals' infrastructure: getting hospitals' Wi-Fi surveyed and remediated, devices purchased and installed, and making adjustments to the physical lay-out of some wards/clinical areas to accommodate devices.”

He says the same programme team manages each implementation, working closely with local clinicians and hospital leaders to understand specific challenges and concerns. Rollout strategies are then tailored to each clinical area.

Image: Taranaki Base Emergency Department senior medical officer Timothy Petterson

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