Ever increasing resource pressures on our health system are requiring improved products, systems and procedures to ensure that a sustainable high quality service is provided.
One area demanding attention is our current preoperative assessment of patients for surgery, which is still largely paper based, labour intensive and thus open to error. Professor Guy Ludbrook (pictured) has been working to bring this assessment into the 21st century using a computer-based system to explore vital patient information. The Computer Health Assessment by Telephone (CHAT) system offers a more efficient and safer assessment that can be managed by clerical staff and allows for patient details to be readily accessible to all clinical staff for review and more targeted follow-up.
Professor Ludbrook has just published a new paper in BMC Anaesthesia examining the use of telephone clinic assessment followed by outpatient attendance in 193 patients. It reports some very interesting time and quality results, and concludes that a telephone assessment to pre-screen elective surgery patients might substantially improve the throughput of patients attending preoperative anaesthetic assessment clinics. Further studies to assess the quality of such an approach are also indicated.
If you would like more information you can read the journal paper online, or contact Greg Macpherson via email greg.macpherson@adelaide.edu.au.