title: Supporting work practices, improving patient flow and monitoring performance using a clinical information management system.
abstract: Providing information technology solutions to clinicians to support their work practices benefits clinicians, administrators and patients. We present our 8-year experience with an inexpensive information management system which provides clinical and business process support for clinicians and bed managers. The system has been used by an area rehabilitation and aged care service to manage inpatient consultations and patient flow across nine hospitals. Performance monitoring of the time from referral to consultation, the number, type and outcome of consultations, and the time taken to access a rehabilitation or subacute bed is also provided. Read-only access to the system for clinicians and bed managers outside the rehabilitation and aged care service allows greater transparency.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation, South Eastern Sydney and Illawarra Area Health Service, Warrawong, NSW. chris.poulos@sesiahs.health.nsw.gov.au
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Poulos
authors.forename: Boris M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Gazibarich
authors.forename: Kathy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Eagar
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002391:Catchment Area, Health; D020000:Decision Support Systems, Clinical; D006801:Humans; D008331:Management Information Systems; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized; D009517:New South Wales; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D018802:Patient-Centered Care; D016730:Program Development; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000458:organization & administration; D012047:Rehabilitation Centers / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019467:Subacute Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D014850:Waiting Lists