WDHB pharmacist nationally recognised for patient safety

Waitemata DHB pharmacist nationally recognised for advancements in patient safety

Waitemata District Health Board (DHB) Pharmacy Operations Manager David Ryan has been named a finalist in the New Zealand Excellence in IT Awards for introducing electronic prescribing (eprescribing) across North Shore and Waitakere Hospitals.

Eprescribing does away with handwritten paper medication charts reducing the rate of prescribing errors, eliminating difficulttoread handwriting and alerting staff to patient allergies or adverse reactions.

Waitemata DHB Chief Executive Dr Dale Bramley says the system is a significant innovation in patient safety with an immediate impact on the wards.

“David has led eprescribing from the ground up with over 850 beds now operating the technology across our hospitals and major clinical sites,” says Dr Bramley.

“Waitemata DHB now has the largest single electronic prescribing implementation in Australasia and is the only DHB in New Zealand to have completed the rollout of electronic medication management covering acute, elective, forensic psychiatric and mental health services.

“We are immensely proud of David’s nomination and would also like to acknowledge our staff who have championed eprescribing on the wards and made our hospitals safer.

” As part of the eprescribing project David spearheaded the development of a customised tablet allowing clinical staff to receive alerts when medications are due, check medications and dosages as well as dispense and record information at the bedside.

A pharmacist by trade, David has become proficient in the IT skills needed to bring eprescribing to life as well as going aboveandbeyond by offering aroundtheclock support to staff as they embed the programme.

He is nominated for the Excellence in Health Informatics award alongside representatives from Orion Health and Homecare Medical – Spark; major providers and leaders in health IT solutions in New Zealand.

“Eprescribing is part of the Leapfrog programme a hothouse for the DHB’s set of strategic technology projects designed to immediately improve patient outcomes and experiences in our care through innovation,” says Dr Bramley.

“These projects are at the core of our transition to a mobile, digital way of working across the DHB for the benefit of our patients.

” Waitemata DHB’s Leapfrog projects include:

• Evitals – a new system for the digital collection of nursing observations and assessments alerting clinicians to deterioration in a patient’s health. The realtime system eliminates the need to search for records to identify patterns, ultimately resulting in more clinical time to focus on the patient.

• ELabs – an electronic ordering system for laboratory tests and radiology procedures, enhancing the speed and accuracy of requesting these services within the hospitals.

• Patient survey platform – An electronic survey platform to record patient, staff and whanau feedback and enhance our understanding of what matters most to those in our care.

• iPads in wards pilot A partnership with Vodafone to deliver a national first in patient experience.

Ward 7 at North Shore Hospital is the first ward in the country where every patient is provided with a bedside iPad device and free DHBwide wifi as part of a trial addressing key items raised in patient feedback.

The New Zealand Excellence in IT Awards Tuesday 12 July 2016.

http://iitp.nz/Awards/2016Finalists

ENDS

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