Engineering safe decision support systems for healthcare. System safety is critical to the success of large-scale computerisation being undertaken to improve the quality of health services delivery worldwide. The research program will develop innovative tools and methods to improve the safety of clinical information systems. The focus on electronic prescribing systems will ensure that the outcomes of this research will have immediate impact on reducing medication errors which are a significant p ....Engineering safe decision support systems for healthcare. System safety is critical to the success of large-scale computerisation being undertaken to improve the quality of health services delivery worldwide. The research program will develop innovative tools and methods to improve the safety of clinical information systems. The focus on electronic prescribing systems will ensure that the outcomes of this research will have immediate impact on reducing medication errors which are a significant public health issue both nationally and internationally. Read moreRead less
Context-aware mobile decision support systems for medical emergency management in mass gatherings. This project contributes to gaining a clearer understanding of the nature and requirements of medical emergency during mass gathering events. We will build and test a mobile real time decision support tool for improving efficiency of medical decisions to strengthen Australia's ability to manage potential health- related hazards. This project addresses research priorities of promoting and maintainin ....Context-aware mobile decision support systems for medical emergency management in mass gatherings. This project contributes to gaining a clearer understanding of the nature and requirements of medical emergency during mass gathering events. We will build and test a mobile real time decision support tool for improving efficiency of medical decisions to strengthen Australia's ability to manage potential health- related hazards. This project addresses research priorities of promoting and maintaining good health. It capitalizes on smart information use and will be of great benefit to mass gatherings emergency management. This project will also train highly qualified IT specialists critical to Australia's scientific and industrial development, thus increasing our competitiveness in information technology R&D. Read moreRead less
Continuous process improvement through workstation feedback for General Practice medicine using experts-in-the-loop data mining. This project investigates the iterative use of data mining results to allow experts to construct feedback to influence subsequent production work. We explore the problem in the context of General Practice medicine by having General Practitioners (GPs) review emerging patterns from their own practice's electronic medical records and author feedback to discourage undesi ....Continuous process improvement through workstation feedback for General Practice medicine using experts-in-the-loop data mining. This project investigates the iterative use of data mining results to allow experts to construct feedback to influence subsequent production work. We explore the problem in the context of General Practice medicine by having General Practitioners (GPs) review emerging patterns from their own practice's electronic medical records and author feedback to discourage undesirable patterns. The work will have immediate applicability to medical practice and will drive innovation in data mining method, notably for efficient identification of temporal and complex niche patterns. More broadly, the work will extend the way data mining is used to create new expectations of workstation behaviour.Read moreRead less
Integrated Decision Support for Appropriate Use of Pathology Tests in Australian General Practice: a Business Systems Perspective. The costs of pathology services in Australia are growing by at least $60 million per year. As the result of the recent "pap smear scandals", quality of pathology services has come under tight public scrutiny. Industry reports indicate the lack of analysis of the consistency of pathology tests ordering, underdeveloped models for communication between providers, and la ....Integrated Decision Support for Appropriate Use of Pathology Tests in Australian General Practice: a Business Systems Perspective. The costs of pathology services in Australia are growing by at least $60 million per year. As the result of the recent "pap smear scandals", quality of pathology services has come under tight public scrutiny. Industry reports indicate the lack of analysis of the consistency of pathology tests ordering, underdeveloped models for communication between providers, and lack of alert, reminder, and follow-up systems for pathology tests. This research investigates the issues of planning, design, implementation, and monitoring of an integrated IT-based decision support system aimed at improving the dynamics and process flow in order to satisfy the demands for high quality pathology services.Read moreRead less
Information Technology Driven Integrated Decision Support for Mass Casualty Disaster Management in Australia. The purpose of mass casualty disaster management is to reduce the level of public risk associated with emergencies and disasters. High quality and responsiveness of emergency services is currently one of the Australian national priorities. Vast amount of both explicit and tacit practical disaster management knowledge has been accumulated at Medical Displan Victoria. The proposed research ....Information Technology Driven Integrated Decision Support for Mass Casualty Disaster Management in Australia. The purpose of mass casualty disaster management is to reduce the level of public risk associated with emergencies and disasters. High quality and responsiveness of emergency services is currently one of the Australian national priorities. Vast amount of both explicit and tacit practical disaster management knowledge has been accumulated at Medical Displan Victoria. The proposed research investigates the issues of planning, design, implementation, and monitoring of an integrated knowledge-based computer decision support system that is aimed at improving the contingency management processes in order to satisfy the demands for high quality and responsiveness of mass casualty disaster medical services in Australia.Read moreRead less
Information Technology Driven Reengineering of Emergency Health Care Facilities in Australia: a Process Intelligence Perspective. Peninsula Health provides services to over 290,000 people. The number of cases when its emergency departments reject ambulance arrivals and close on "by-pass" has recently increased dramatically. Lack of reliable forecasting tools, underdeveloped models for resource allocation, the absence of scenario analysis and process dynamics tracking tools that are able to simul ....Information Technology Driven Reengineering of Emergency Health Care Facilities in Australia: a Process Intelligence Perspective. Peninsula Health provides services to over 290,000 people. The number of cases when its emergency departments reject ambulance arrivals and close on "by-pass" has recently increased dramatically. Lack of reliable forecasting tools, underdeveloped models for resource allocation, the absence of scenario analysis and process dynamics tracking tools that are able to simulate different scenarios, all contribute to current challenging situation. This research investigates the issues of planning, design, implementation, and monitoring of an integrated IT-based decision support system aimed at reengineering the Industry Partner's business process flow in order to satisfy the demands for the emergency medical care program.Read moreRead less
Development of computer-based decision support tools using population pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic models. Diabetes is an epidemic that presents an enormous burden to health systems of both developed and developing nations. Australia spends an estimated $35 billion on the condition annually, with costs set to rise with increasing diagnosis rates. Additionally, the burden of diabetes is more prominent in indigenous Australians. We intend to improve management of this disease in non-indigenous ....Development of computer-based decision support tools using population pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic models. Diabetes is an epidemic that presents an enormous burden to health systems of both developed and developing nations. Australia spends an estimated $35 billion on the condition annually, with costs set to rise with increasing diagnosis rates. Additionally, the burden of diabetes is more prominent in indigenous Australians. We intend to improve management of this disease in non-indigenous and indigenous Australians by development of a user-friendly computer-based decision support tool for doctors. Once established, this tool will have applications in other fields of health care where support is needed to make informed dosing decisions for critical medications and have the potential to reduce financial and social impacts of chronic disease.Read moreRead less
Smart Information Portals: Meeting knowledge and decision support needs of health care consumers for quality online information. Smart information portals, tailored to the communities needs, will contribute to emerging national information infrastructure for consumer focused information provision. They will support government initiatives promoting the role of online access to reliable, quality information in achieving good health, patient empowerment, participation in informed decision making, s ....Smart Information Portals: Meeting knowledge and decision support needs of health care consumers for quality online information. Smart information portals, tailored to the communities needs, will contribute to emerging national information infrastructure for consumer focused information provision. They will support government initiatives promoting the role of online access to reliable, quality information in achieving good health, patient empowerment, participation in informed decision making, self-management, and greater treatment compliance. Through the National Research Priority 3 goal of smart information use, the project addresses Priority 2 goals relating to ageing well; ageing productively; preventive health care; and strengthening the social and economic fabric to enable Australians to make choices that lead to healthy, productive and fulfilling lives.Read moreRead less
Introducing computer-based documentation to Residential Aged Care: a multi-method evaluation of success. Improvements to quality and use of evidence-based methods in residential aged-care are restricted due to the very slow adoption of electronic information systems. This research will provide key investors, government, aged care providers and IT vendors, with tools to measure success in introducing IT into this sector. The project will create a platform with the national peak body, to dissemina ....Introducing computer-based documentation to Residential Aged Care: a multi-method evaluation of success. Improvements to quality and use of evidence-based methods in residential aged-care are restricted due to the very slow adoption of electronic information systems. This research will provide key investors, government, aged care providers and IT vendors, with tools to measure success in introducing IT into this sector. The project will create a platform with the national peak body, to disseminate lessons in successful implementation of computerised systems in residential aged-care, based on studies in two states. The studies will also benefit the international community researching technology adoption, by extending its boundary condition to a novel setting.Read moreRead less
Informatics approaches to improving risk assessment and response to outbreaks of communicable diseases. The project will address the detection of infections caused by category A biological agents which pose a risk to national security. The project will contribute to Research priority 4 'Safeguarding Australia from invasive diseases and securing our critical infrastructure' by developing detection and alerting techniques for potential catastrophic threats. The Australian community will benefit fr ....Informatics approaches to improving risk assessment and response to outbreaks of communicable diseases. The project will address the detection of infections caused by category A biological agents which pose a risk to national security. The project will contribute to Research priority 4 'Safeguarding Australia from invasive diseases and securing our critical infrastructure' by developing detection and alerting techniques for potential catastrophic threats. The Australian community will benefit from more efficient detection and management of potential biothreats to health and infrastructure. The application of the model to other industry sectors will enable better strategic planning and implementation of biosecurity initiatives. The potential national cost-benefit is impressive given limitations of currently used surveillance tools.Read moreRead less