Using an e-health strategy to facilitate the design and development of effective healthcare processes

Abstract

The recent discussions and adoptions of e-health, and more specifically e-health solutions, within Australia and internationally can also be thought of as a catalyst for improving quality and safety, managing risk and controlling runaway cost in health care. e-Health, as defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO), is a combination of information and communication technologies in the health sector. The ultimate goal of e-health is to strengthen health systems, support delivery of high quality care, improve people's health and monitor public health (http://www. who.int/topics/ehealth/en/); thus it is also integrally connected with process improvement and hence the principles of lean thinking and six sigma are relevant in this context. The following looks at what Epworth HealthCare (Epworth) could adopt in order to embrace a complete e-health solution that is consistent with its expansion and redevelopment programme as well as the goal to provide the hospital with state-of-the-art facilities into the future. As noted in the literature, such an examination of a large-scale project represents a unique opportunity to implement digital clinical systems, which underpin redesigned workfl ow and processes to achieve improvements in standards, performance, quality of clinical care, safety and reduce risks. The case study thus outlines a proposed plan that focuses on developing an all encompassing e-health strategy to support the hospital's healthcare strategic plan and the goals set by the Epworth board (We note that this material is not necessarily representative of any plan that Epworth HealthCare will or plan to undertake. Rather, it is based on a project conducted by Raphael Di Francesco under the supervision of Prof. Nilmini Wickramasinghe. Moreover, the chapter is used solely for educational purposes and is in no way suggesting poor practice and/or improper management.).