An alliance to achieve safer health test results

At a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) funded Partnership Project stakeholder forum held last week, members of the Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research (CHSSR) at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation met with representatives from 14 other stakeholders to work on a plan to deliver safer, more effective and sustainable IT systems in healthcare.

The forum was held as part of a project entitled Delivering safe and effective test result communication, management and follow-up’ which is being led by Associate Professor Andrew Georgiou.

“The project has three main goals,” Andrew explained. “The first being to improve the effectiveness and safety of test result management through the establishment of clear processes of communication, responsibility and accountability.”

“The second is to harness health IT to inform and monitor test result management, and the third is to enhance the contribution of consumers to the establishment of safe and effective test result management systems,” he said.

The five-year venture brings together experts from many different backgrounds specialising in specific aspects of healthcare delivery. Working together, the project stakeholders will deliver better solutions in areas such test result communication to both doctors and patients, delivery of patient care, and consumer engagement.

Dr Robert Herkes, Clinical Director of the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, also hopes that the project will improve delineation models when it comes to understanding test results.

“There are currently unresolved issues around what is an abnormal test result and when an alert for these tests need to be made,” he said.

In addition to members of the CHSSR, other stakeholder attendees at the forum were from the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, SEALS Pathology, Health Consumers NSW, Clinical Excellence Commission, Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia, Australian Healthcare and Hospital Association, Prince of Wales Hospital, St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney Children’s Hospital, Liverpool Hospital, Diabetes Australia, CanSpeak, MDA National and Spok.

You can read more about the project here.

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