Four NSW researchers whose work has changed the way we design and deliver healthcare have been honoured in the Sax Institute’s inaugural Research Action Awards.
The researchers have made an impact on areas ranging from being pivotal in having sunbeds banned in several states to changing the way we communicate about vaccines to hesitant parents.
The Institute established the annual awards this year to recognise research that supports policy decisions that make a real-world difference to people’s health and wellbeing.
“The winning applications are outstanding examples of research that is making a critical contribution to health and health systems,” said Sax Institute CEO Professor Sally Redman. “Our award winners have not only undertaken research about issues of immediate relevance to those who make health decisions, they have also found elegant ways to have their findings acted upon.”
A panel of national and international experts chose the four successful applicants, including Associate Professor Farah Magrabi from the Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Centre of Health Informatics at Macquarie University.
Associate Professor Magrabi has sought to shed more light on the poorly understood area of patient safety risk posed by e-health systems. From her world-first analysis of IT safety incidents, she developed a new classification system for e-health risks. This has become the de facto international standard for analysing IT safety incidents.
She has led major pieces of work looking at IT-related safety risks in the US and England and her work is shaping policy to govern e-health safety, including recommendations from the US Institute of Medicine accepted by the US Government. Associate Professor Magrabi has also developed a new IT incident monitoring system that has been tested in general practices across Australia.
“E-health has many benefits but when IT systems are poorly designed and used they pose risks to patient safety,” she said. “It is really highly significant to have our research recognised in this way as this is an issue of major significance and urgency. IT systems for pathology, medications, radiology and record-keeping play a mission-critical role in our hospitals and GP surgeries but there is not yet any active surveillance of IT-related harm currently experienced by health systems in Australia or elsewhere.”
About the Sax Institute
The Institute unlocks the potential of research to have a real-world impact and connects decision makers and researchers in an effort to build better health systems. It is a non-profit, public good organisation with a membership base of 45 public health and health services research groups and their universities. The 2015 Research Action Awards were open to Sax Institute member organisations or employees of NSW Health who conduct public health or health services research.
The researchers have made an impact on areas ranging from being pivotal in having sunbeds banned in several states to changing the way we communicate about vaccines to hesitant parents.
The Institute established the annual awards this year to recognise research that supports policy decisions that make a real-world difference to people’s health and wellbeing.
“The winning applications are outstanding examples of research that is making a critical contribution to health and health systems,” said Sax Institute CEO Professor Sally Redman. “Our award winners have not only undertaken research about issues of immediate relevance to those who make health decisions, they have also found elegant ways to have their findings acted upon.”
A panel of national and international experts chose the four successful applicants, including Associate Professor Farah Magrabi from the Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Centre of Health Informatics at Macquarie University.
Associate Professor Magrabi has sought to shed more light on the poorly understood area of patient safety risk posed by e-health systems. From her world-first analysis of IT safety incidents, she developed a new classification system for e-health risks. This has become the de facto international standard for analysing IT safety incidents.
She has led major pieces of work looking at IT-related safety risks in the US and England and her work is shaping policy to govern e-health safety, including recommendations from the US Institute of Medicine accepted by the US Government. Associate Professor Magrabi has also developed a new IT incident monitoring system that has been tested in general practices across Australia.
“E-health has many benefits but when IT systems are poorly designed and used they pose risks to patient safety,” she said. “It is really highly significant to have our research recognised in this way as this is an issue of major significance and urgency. IT systems for pathology, medications, radiology and record-keeping play a mission-critical role in our hospitals and GP surgeries but there is not yet any active surveillance of IT-related harm currently experienced by health systems in Australia or elsewhere.”
About the Sax Institute
The Institute unlocks the potential of research to have a real-world impact and connects decision makers and researchers in an effort to build better health systems. It is a non-profit, public good organisation with a membership base of 45 public health and health services research groups and their universities. The 2015 Research Action Awards were open to Sax Institute member organisations or employees of NSW Health who conduct public health or health services research.
