IT Systems In Healthcare
5,000 hip operations conducted every year could be avoidable with better IT systems in place.
According to a leading Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, better hospital communication could protect patients from thousands of otherwise avoidable hip operations. There are approximately 50,000 hip fractures each year; a figure expected to rise to 120,000 by 2015 due to the ageing UK population.
David Selvey of Redditch's Alexandra Hospital and Droitwich Spa Private Hospital believes that of the total number of fractures, 10% (5,000 at current figures) are re-fractures that could be prevented if straightforward procedures were put in place for early diagnosis and the detection of likely sufferers.
He believes that reversing this potentially avoidable trend of re-fractures and halting the inevitable drain of money and resources must be an absolute priority.
"Implementing a clinical information system that ensures the effective capture, analysis and exchange of information across all departments and between hospitals so that hospital staff can correctly advise, refer and treat their patients is fundamental to achieving this objective," he says.
Hip fractures are the most devastating of bone fractures, severely impacting on both the health and quality of life of the individual and the economic health of the country. £5 million is spent daily on hip fractures alone, which also account for over one million bed days per year.
The personal cost undoubtedly has a far greater effect on society, with many patients unable to continue with their previous way of life. Patients often require extra help with their daily activities, an increased level of residential or hospital care, additional community health and social service visits or in some cases are forced to take up residence in nursing homes, which is when the financial implications are enormous.
Currently, many hospitals are unable to communicate effectively between departments let alone with outside organisations. Employees have to spend hours each day scanning information onto their computers. Although the government is spending billions on a national IT programme, Connecting for Health, the focus also needs to be on delivering systems with detailed clinical data.
David Selvey says; "The purpose of the national programme is to link the ITsystems together. However, very little emphasis has been placed on how the information will be collected. At present, clinicians are unable to capture information with ease. We all have email but no time to send out emails. We need a system such as Bluespier that captures the clinical information as part of our daily activities, without the need for additional input. The information is then immediately available and can be put to work."
Using Bluespier Orthopaedic Patient Manager would provide an early means of identifying patients who suffer "insufficiency fractures" like vertebral bone collapse or wrist "colles" fractures so that they are diagnosed before they suffer a hip fracture. The patient would then be guided to the relevant specialist department such as endocrinology or geriatrics or to their GP. These patients, if put on anti-osteoporotic medication, or provided with hip protectors could avoid having an otherwise inevitable hip fracture. This approach has been adopted by the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney, Australia which is currently piloting the Bluespier system with a view to extending it across hospitals throughout the city and state.
David Selvey concludes, "Effective communication is vital to the success of every organisation but when dealing with people's health and wellbeing, it has to be paramount. Bluespier is a system designed by clinicians, for clinicians and as such is one of the most efficient and effective clinical information system available."
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