Aged Care Sector

Reducing risk of medication errors and identifying how the National Electronic Health Records could bring better outcomes to those needing aged care.

Project

This project, for a major aged care services body, was initiated as a convergence of factors was placing the aged care sector under growing pressure and creating an environment where the risk of medication errors was increasing. At the same time as the workforce is contracting and aging, the proportion of high care patients and rates of polypharmacy are increasing, and up to a third of all patients admitted to hospital from residential aged care are admitted because of adverse medication events, many potentially preventable. The care services body also wanted to identify the potential benefits that participation in the National Electronic Health Record could bring to the aged care sector.

Results

The business case was informed by interviews and workshops with key stakeholders across Australia held to inform solution design, feasible options and the scope of costs, risks and benefits. The business case included a full financial appraisal and sensitivity analysis, Risk Management Plan and Benefits Realisation Register.

A readiness assessment was performed to assess current information and business processes, define future processes and develop gap closure strategies to address information gaps and ensure facilities could participate in eHealth initiatives. This informed the deployment approach and mechanisms to promote adoption of systems to enable participation in improved integration with the health sector.

The project involved an assessment of the policy and process impacts that the introduction of eHealth would bring to the aged care sector, considering issues such as privacy, consent, authorised representatives, family access, liability, interaction between aged care processes such as ACAT assessments and eHealth systems.

A communication strategy was developed that identified all stakeholders and the communication materials and tactics appropriate for each group. A training plan and materials were developed to address both the business process and information system changes that staff needed to implement.