Digital health Archives | Page 3 of 9 | South Western Sydney PHN

16 October 2024

Telehealth training in September has left healthcare providers in South Western Sydney better equipped than ever to embrace the digital future of healthcare.

GPs, nurses and residential aged care home (RACH) staff from across the region took part in the SWSPHN-hosted session to enhance their telehealth capabilities to improve patient outcomes and streamline healthcare delivery.

The session aimed to bridge the gap between traditional healthcare practices and modern telehealth solutions, ensuring all participants were well prepared to leverage the telehealth equipment provided to RACHs by SWSPHN.

The training session, held on Wednesday, 25 September, covered topics designed to build confidence and competence in telehealth.

What did the training include?

Key areas of focus included:

utilise effective communication skills required to manage the aged care/GP interface in a telehealth environment
describe the ISBAR4AC communication protocol and its benefits in standardising communications
recognise and describe the deteriorating resident in a RACH and the triggers for escalation to medical consultation/care
discuss and identify the ‘goals of care’ in the management of the RACH resident

Feedback from participants

Feedback from those at the session included comments such as:

“It crystalises what are the basics of good aged care communication”

“Very informative”

“Beautiful demonstration on other side of the coin”

“Presentation was very impressive and practical”

“Good refresher on telehealth in RACH”

“Through, educational and interesting”

“Very informative and important for telehealth”

“Good learning opportunity”

How do I take part in the next training session?

The last telehealth training for the year will be held on Thursday, 7 November, from 6.30pm to 9.30pm at Park Proxi Gibraltar Bowral.

Session will be presented by Simon Gould from Medics for Life and is suitable for GPs, GP registrars and practice nurses.

There’s a one-off incentive payment of $300 for each GP or GP registrar practicing in South Western Sydney and $160 for each nurse or RACH staff member. This activity has been approved for two RACGP CPD education activity hours.

Register now for the last training session of the year.

16 September 2024

SafeScript NSW is a real-time prescription monitoring system which provides prescribers and pharmacists with access to a patient’s prescription and dispensing history for high-risk medicines, known as monitored medicines, such as opioids, benzodiazepines and sleeping aids.

It aims to support clinical decision-making and improve patient safety.

SafeScript NSW assists prescribers and pharmacists to:

review patients’ prescribing and dispensing history for monitored medicines
identify patients who are receiving prescriptions for monitored medicines from multiple prescribers, placing them at increased risk of harm
consider patients’ total daily dose of opioids when making decisions about their care
identify patients who may be taking concurrent potentially harmful medications

Who can access the system?

All prescribers (medical practitioners and nurse practitioners) and pharmacists who are registered with Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) are able to access SafeScript NSW, once invited to register.

Prescribers and pharmacists can only use information held in SafeScript NSW for the purpose of:

providing treatment to an individual patient by reviewing the monitored medicines prescribed or supplied to the patient
providing advice to a prescriber or a pharmacist on the treatment of an individual patient

Use for other purposes is not permitted.

To get started, prescribers and pharmacists will need to:

register for SafeScript NSW (registration is simple and takes less than 10 minutes to complete)
enable SafeScript NSW in your prescribing or dispensing software (if using integrated clinical software)

Already registered?

To support the rollout of SafeScript NSW, prescribers and pharmacists are invited to:

Complete the accredited eLearning modules (NPS MedicineWise sign-in required)
Learn about the support available, including a dedicated 24/7 clinical advice line (1800 776 633), Online Help
Access local HealthPathways, including:

SafeScript NSW has created new resources to support health practitioners, including a clinician guide and consumer factsheet.

If you have questions, or need assistance registering for SafeScript NSW, contact SWSPHN’s Digital Health team at DigitalHealth@swsphn.com.au

15 August 2024

SWSPHN is delivering telehealth training to bolster the digital health literacy and telehealth proficiency of healthcare professionals in our region.

GPs, practice nurses and residential aged care home (RACH) staff came together for a face-to-face session on Tuesday, 30 July, aimed at enhancing their telehealth capabilities to improve patient outcomes and streamline healthcare delivery.

The session focused on bridging the gap between traditional healthcare practices and modern telehealth solutions, and ensuring all participants are well-prepared to leverage the telehealth equipment SWSPHN has provided to RACHs.

The training will be repeated on 25 September and 7 November.

What did the training include?

The training session covered a wide array of topics designed to build confidence and competence in telehealth.

Key areas of focus included:

utilising effective communication skills required to manage the aged care/GP interface in a telehealth environment
describing the ISBAR4AC communication protocol and its benefits in standardising communications
recognising and describing the deteriorating resident in a RACH and the triggers for escalation to medical consultation/care
discussing and identifying the Goals of Care in the management of the RACH resident

What was the feedback from participants?

Feedback from participants was overwhelmingly positive: “excellent, informative lecture”, “very knowledgeable presenter and informative”, “learned new areas of communication like summarisation technique and 40/20 rule”, “useful, improves communication which is key to good care”, “very informative, very useful, especially for GPs involved in RACH resident care”, “informative session, very important skills for GP, very helpful for improving telehealth communications”.

How do I take part in a training session?

Sessions will be held on Wednesday, 25 September, from 7pm to 9.30pm, at Harringtons Bar and Grill, 1 Forestgrove Drive, Harrington Park and on Thursday, 7 November at Park Proxi Gibraltar, 7 Boronia Street, Bowral, from 6.30pm to 9pm.

Each session will be presented by Simon Gould from Medics for Life and is suitable for GPs, GP registrars and practice nurses.

02 July 2024

96 per cent of all data breaches are the results of human actions with the remaining 4 per cent caused by system faults
91 per cent of all cyber-attacks begin with an email to an unsuspecting victim in an attack called phishing

Despite this, according to a recent survey conducted by SWSPHN, 92 per cent of South Western Sydney practices are still using fax to send confidential patient information instead of using secure messaging.

Not sure where to start?

The Australian Digital Health Agency has recently updated its website with resources to assist with informing practices of the most common ways cyber-criminals attempt to steal information and strategies to prevent this from happening.

The site has useful guides and fact sheets which can be used to inform staff, as well as online training which is free for staff to register and complete.

Find out more

Have more questions?

Please email digitalhealth@swsphn.com.au

18 June 2024

Electronic prescriptions continue to provide Australians with convenient access to their medicines and improve safety by reducing the risk of transcription errors.

Overall, more than 225 million electronic prescriptions have been created to date which includes 95 million created by doctors and 129 million created by pharmacies (repeats).

The electronic prescribing initiative continues to evolve and improve.

For patients taking multiple medications, the Active Script List (ASL) is a solution which provides further convenience and flexibility, streamlining electronic prescription management.

Previously an individual could only register for an ASL at a pharmacy.

However, general practice software may now offer this functionality to allow prescribers to register individuals for an ASL.

By talking to your patients about registering for an ASL, you can help them use electronic prescriptions, removing the need for them to manage multiple tokens on their mobile device.

Once they have an ASL, any electronic prescription created is automatically added to their ASL (unless the patient asks the prescriber/dispenser not to) and the patient does not need to present a token at the pharmacy to get their script filled.

For more information about electronic prescriptions and ASL visit the Agency’s webpage on Electronic prescribing for prescribers.

Access the CPD accredited free online learning training for prescribers, Electronic prescriptions and Active Script List in your Practice

Source: EDUCATION AND ADOPTION Resources and events update – June 2024

28 May 2024

Healthcare organisations are required to have a written My Health Record security and access policy to register, and remain registered, with My Health Record regardless of the organisation’s size or how often they access the My Health Record system.

At a minimum, an organisation’s My Health Record security and access policy must address the following:

how people are authorised to access the My Health Record system, and how access is deactivated or suspended when certain circumstances arise
the training which is provided to employees before they access the My Health Record system, including how to use the system accurately and responsibly, the legal obligations on healthcare provider organisations and individuals, and the consequences of breaching those obligations
the process for identifying a person who requests access to a healthcare recipient’s My Health Record and communicating the person’s identity to the System Operator
the physical and information security measures taken by the healthcare provider organisation and people accessing the My Health Record system
mitigation strategies to promptly identify, act upon and report security risks
assisted registration information (if applicable)

Having a My Health Record security and access policy helps to ensure the information held within My Health Record is used appropriately, kept secure and protected.

Listen to the Australian Digital Health Agency’s new podcast to learn more about the key components of a My Health Record security and access policy.

09 April 2024

The start of 2024 has been busy with the expiry of NASH (National Authentication Service for Health) certificates for many general practices, specialists, pharmacies and allied health providers.

Many of these organisations would have received an email from SWSPHN a month before their certificates expired, reminding them to renew and offering assistance with downloading and installing their certificates.

What is NASH?

NASH was introduced in 2012 and is a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) solution used to access digital health services such as:

Electronic prescribing
My Health Record
Secure messaging
Healthcare Identifiers (HI) Service

Why is it used?

NASH is used by healthcare provider organisations and supporting organisations to:

authenticate and securely access digital health services
digitally sign documents and other transactions
encrypt health information for secure exchange

On 24 March, access to the HI Service and My Health Record using the Medicare PKI Certificate was switched off. Now, the only way to access these services is by updating to the NASH SHA-2 certificate.

Sites which are still using the Medicare PKI Certificate to access the HI Service will get a reminder email from the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) informing them to update to NASH SHA-2.

For sites which have already updated to NASH SHA-2 and are still getting a reminder email, please check with your software provider to ensure your NASH certificate has been updated and installed correctly.

Most software vendors will have updated their software, so the only certificate required is the NASH certificate.

For more information click on the link below or if you have any questions, please reach out to the SWSPHN Digital Health Team at digitalhealth@swsphn.com.au

National Authentication Service for Health (NASH) – (digitalhealth.gov.au)

National Authentication Service for Health – Services Australia

02 April 2024

Prescribers are now able to submit applications in SafeScript NSW for approval to prescribe Schedule 8 Pain Management Medicines, Schedule 8 Benzodiazepines, and Esketamine and Ketamine when used to manage treatment-resistant depression.

This extends the approval management functionality introduced last year enabling prescribers to manage their applications for approval to prescribe medicines under the NSW Opioid Treatment Program (OTP) and psychostimulants (dexamfetamine, lisdexamfetamine and methylphenidate).

More than 50 per cent of all applications to prescribe medicines under the OTP and psychostimulants are submitted through SafeScript NSW, with some receiving immediate approval (where required criteria are met).

This has improved the overall application process by reducing the time it takes to make an application and waiting for approvals to be processed.

SafeScript NSW’s approval management functionality offers an efficient and centralised way for prescribers to:

easily submit their applications online
monitor application progress
receive responses to their applications faster, with approvals issued immediately in some cases
cancel or exit an existing approval if it is no longer required

For more information, including resources to optimise your experience using SafeScript NSW, download this fact sheet.

18 March 2024

Many practices in South Western Sydney have been reporting they are receiving duplicate electronic discharge summaries.

Normally, when a patient is discharged from hospital they are provided with a paper copy of their discharge summary for them to give to their GP and a digital copy is forwarded to the GP.

If the doctor at the hospital decides to make changes or add new information to the discharge summary, a new digital copy will be sent.

For example:

discharging clinician at the hospital has created the discharge summary document for the patient and has sent the digital copy to the GP
five to 10 minutes later, they make changes or add information to the discharge summary and a new copy with the changes is sent electronically to the GP
for the receiving GP, this will appear as if the document has been duplicated as there may have been only minor changes
if the GP reads the document in its entirety, it may become clearer the document contains updated information, however the wording does not inform the GP of what has been added or changed

Top tip: Take a look at the end of the discharge summary document for the document version number.

Electronic discharge summaries not being delivered?

Shortly, we’ll be in touch with practices and GPs in our catchment who have previously not consented to their information being shared with South Western Sydney Local Health District (SWSLHD) for the purposes of maintaining practice and practitioner records in SWSLHD’s systems.

SWSPHN has been working closely with SWSLHD to audit and finalise secure mechanisms for sharing practice records.

This will help ensure electronic discharge summaries have the best chance of being distributed to the correct practice and GP after a patient admission.

Top tip: You can also check My Health Record for any electronic discharge summary records for your patients.

Digital health questions? Contact our team

If you are having any issues with electronic discharge summaries (including delivery) or any other digital health issues, contact our friendly and knowledgeable team at SWSPHN at digitalhealth@swsphn.com.au.

01 February 2024

Any healthcare organisation, whether a large, multi-clinic medical practice or a solo private provider, must have a My Health Record security and access policy in place if registered to participate in the My Health Record system.

Maintaining and promoting this policy is an important way of ensuring the system is used safely and responsibly by staff.

There are several useful resources to assist you with developing or maintaining your policy and meeting the ongoing participation obligations.

A key requirement of any healthcare organisation’s policy is to ensure that users of My Health Record receive training before being authorised to access the system.

The training should include:

how to use the system accurately and responsibly
legal obligations of the healthcare provider organisation and people who access the system on behalf of the organisation
the consequences of breaching those obligations

Users need to understand when they can view or upload information to My Health Record as well as the appropriate and lawful use of the emergency access function.