October 2004 Edition Of SWARH(VIC) Newsletter - South West ...

South West Alliance of Rural Health (Vic)
Issue 47 www.swarh.com.au October 2004
SWARH’s Thought For The
Month…..
Gratitude is the heart's memory J
Starlight And
Dimension Data Help To
Brighten The Children’s
Ward At Portland
District Health
Spending time in hospital is something no one looks forward
to. For children too ill to leave their beds it can also
be lonely, painful and boring! But for children at Portland
District Health, things recently got a little brighter. On
Wednesday 25 th August, the Starlight Children’s Foundation
donated a Starlight entertainment ‘Fun Centre’ unit to
the paediatric and children’s ward thanks to the generosity
of Dimension Data.
THIS
ISSUE’S TOPICS:
⇒
⇒
Starlight And Dimension Data Help To Brighten The Children’s
Ward At Portland District Health
New Initiative To Fast Track Child Trauma Treatment
⇒ A Handy Hint From The ICT Department
• Do You Have The Latest Version Of The E-trust Anti Virus
Software
⇒
⇒
Clinical Applications
• SWARH Regional Education Web-Page
• Patient Systems Update - MedTrak
From The SWARH Office
• Western District Health Service - New Phone Numbers
• SWARH Hard-Copy Device RFT- UPDATE Continued
⇒ News From Lorne Community Hospital
• ARCHI
⇒ The SWARH Network Is Growing….A Newsletter Supplement
• SWARH Network Diagram
when a child is in hospital, they are often in pain, lonely,
and not to mention being bored, sometimes they can’t
even get out of bed. The Starlight ‘Fun Centres’ offer a
distraction, they bring some joy, entertainment and happiness
into the child’s life which is so important while
they are in hospital.
Even late into the night when children can’t get to sleep
due to their illness, they can watch a movie or play a
game and escape their surroundings into a world of
make believe.
The Starlight ‘Fun Centres’ are colourful, high-tech entertainment
units that contain a state of the art LCD
flatscreen, DVD player, Nintendo Gamecube, computer
with Internet access capability and a huge variety of preloaded
games and movies.
The Captain Starlights challenge the patients and staff of Portland
District Health on the new Starlight Fun centre, donated by
Dimension Data.
The Starlight ‘Fun Centres’ will brighten the lives of hospitalised
children in Portland. Emotion plays a critical role
Starlight ‘Fun Centres’ are rolled into action in hospital
paediatric units right around Victoria every day. In addition
to Portland, there are currently Starlight ‘Fun Centres’
at Western District Health Service—Hamilton, and
South West Healthcare - Warrnambool. Starlight hopes
Issue 47 SWARH Newsletter
Page 1

to deliver over 80 Starlight ‘Fun Centres’ across Victoria
by the end of the year including two to Barwon Health.
(subject to available funding)
“Starlight are thrilled to be able to bring some Starlight
magic into the Portland District Health, the Starlight ‘Fun
Centres’ will provide hours of entertainment and distraction
for children staying in hospital” said Michelle
Eunson, Starlight State Manager.
“Thankyou for brightening
up Benjamin's
visit to the Portland
Hospital. The Starlight
Fun Centre will certainly
bring happiness
to the children and get
rid of some that boredom.
Well done, and
we were very lucky to
Benjamin and Captain Starlight with the
Starlight Fun Centre at Portland District
Health.
meet you all” - parents
of Benjamin, patient
in the paediatric
ward of Portland District
Hospital.
If you would like further information on how you can help
brighten the lives of seriously ill and hospitalised children
please visit the Starlight Children Foundation website
www.starlight.org.au or contact 1300 727 827.
SWARH hopes to begin a trial of a virtual visiting project
between the Starlight Room at Royal Children's Hospital
Melbourne and the Children’s Wards at Member Agencies.
Watch this space for further information soon !!
NEW INITIATIVE TO FAST TRACK CHILD
TRAUMA TREATMENT
Live link ups and a fast track treatment calculator will
help Victorian clinicians in rural and remote areas better
treat child emergency cases, the Minister for Health,
Bronwyn Pike, said today.
(From L-R) Paul Cohen, Executive Director Information
Services, Barwon Health, Gary Druitt Chief Information
Officer SWARH, Adrian Hutchinson RCH ED Unit
Manager, The Hon Bronwyn Pike Minister For Health &
Dr. Charlie Corke ICU Director, Barwon Health
Picture: Stewart Carter
“The Paediatric
Emergency Management
Calculator, developed
by a clinician
at the Royal
Children’s Hospital,
provides step-bystep
treatment options
for any child
trauma case,” Ms
Pike said.
“Whether it is asthma, burns, meningitis, a snake bite or a
major trauma case, rural medical staff will be able to use
the tool to calculate treatment plans and drug doses for
any type of paediatric emergency. “For more complex
cases, rural clinicians will be able to access expert advice
with the click of a button through a live video link up to a
paediatric specialist at the major hospitals in Geelong
and Warrnambool.”
More than 20 hospitals and community health centres
across the Barwon region are connected through the
SWARH network, with video link-up equipment located in
emergency departments for live link ups and consultation.
The Barwon-South Western region is Victoria’s first to roll
out the initiative.
The Hon Bronwyn Pike MP Minister for Health in Torquay at the
Emergency Management Calculator Launch on Monday 6/09/2004 .
Bronwyn is standing next to a projection of a tissue sample slide
transmitted across the SWARH network from Hamilton.
Picture: Stewart Carter
“Treating children often requires intimate knowledge of a
complex set of formulas to ensure that correct treatment
and drug infusion are provided,” Ms Pike said.
“But lack of exposure to regular childhood illnesses and
trauma can sometimes result in delays in treatment while
clinicians ascertain appropriate options. This calculator
gives basic decision support to medical practitioners to
help them provide precise emergency treatment quickly.”
Ms Pike said the calculator had already been used successfully
at the Royal Children’s Hospital intensive care
unit and emergency department to provide emergency
treatment to seriously ill children.
She also launched a new web-based trauma-training program,
Fundamental Initial Resuscitation of Severe
Trauma (FIRST), for rural medical and nursing staff who
find it difficult to attend training sessions due to distance.
“The interactive scenario based training program takes
30 minutes and helps ensure rural medical and nursing
staff keep up-to-date with the latest principles and protocols
in trauma management,” she said.
Issue 47 SWARH Newsletter
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Handy Hint #15 ..From The ICT Department
Do You Have The Latest Version Of The
E-trust Anti-Virus Software
To Check:
1. Find the innoculate Icon on the Task Bar.
This is be a blue square icon with a squiggly
yellow line in the bottom right hand corner
of the screen. (pictured)
2. Right mouse click on the icon.
3. Select “Version Information.”
4. Product Version should be 7.1.192
5. If your version of inoculate is not up to date,
please log a request on SWARH’s regional Help
Desk.
⇒ Online via the Intranet : http://swarhhelp
⇒ Telephone: 55644011
⇒ Email: helpdesk@swarh.vic.gov.au
CLINICAL APPLICATIONS
http://swarh/regionaled/
SWARH Regional Education Web-Page
The SWARH Regional Education Web-Page will facilitate
the coordination and delivery of regional continuing
professional education for health professionals in the
Barwon South-West health region, utilising the SWARH
Network. The Web-Page will benefit SWARH Members
by providing access to programs of multi-disciplinary
relevance, shared learning opportunities and potential
future uses of the technology.
The SWARH Regional Education site has been completed
and now reflects a new regional structure. It is
now a generic site and will also be available on a site-bysite
basis for non-clinical education sessions.
Southwest Healthcare is in the process of conducting a
trial of the functionality. A formal implementation process
for the other sites will be conducted in due course.
For more information about SWARH’s Regional Education
Web-Page please contact Mark Johnstone (03) 55
64 4002 Email: mwjohnstone@swarh.vic.gov.au
Patient Systems Update - MedTrak
Greetings to All.
This month saw the integration of the ED and Clinical
Working Parties to form a Clinical Implementation Working
Group. This aims to more correctly reflect the
integrated approach we are now taking towards developing
a regional clinical system.
As we move forward with orders entry and discharge
summaries, we will need to consider the vast scope of
Clinical practice throughout the region. Again this is the
time for each agency to ensure they have input to the
working group. Mapping of current work practices are
useful to demonstrate changes, which will be inherent in
an electronic medical record. This is a worthwhile exercise
for agencies to undertake in preparation for change.
I have been liaising with colleagues around the state and
interstate to learn from their experiences with the implementation
of ePrescribing in its varying forms. One of the
challenges facing the healthcare facilities in the region is
to determine what ePrescribing means to us and how
best to go forth with implementation. To that end, a
small subcommittee will be formed to address issues
specific to ePrescribing.
Remember, the test system can be accessed from anywhere
within SWARH by using the following link
http://traktes/medtrak/webtes
Username: wardnurse
Password: ward1234.
I encourage everyone to have a look at the system and
offer suggestions as to how it fits in with your practice.
Hoorooo for now J
Katharina Redford
Ph: 55644008, M: 0409 942322
E: kmredford@swarh.vic.gov.au
From The SWARH Office
Western District Health Service
and Hamilton Base Hospital - New
Phone Numbers
Commencing from October 20th, 2004 the new main
number for Western District Health Service and Hamilton
Base Hospital is 5551 8222.
If you wish to convert an old health service number to the
new number, please replace the first 5 digits of the old
number, 55710, with 55518, to create the new number.
The last 3 digits remain the same. Please include the (03)
area code if required. Users with IP phones, will now be
able to dial the 5 digit number for our new extensions.
Please note the following numbers for reference after
October 20 2004:
Main Hospital Number : 5551 8222 (18222)
Reception Facsimile : 5571 9584
Supply Facsimile : 5571 9604
Chief Executive Office : 5551 8215 (18215)
Human Resources : 5551 8225 (18225)
Please note: The main reception facsimile and supply numbers do not follow the 5551 8xxx
trend.
Issue 47 SWARH Newsletter
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SWARH Hard-Copy Device RFT – UPDATE
Continued
As part of the SWARH Hard Copy Device agreement,
CWT is required to provide a report for each SWARH
member agency which evaluates the current printing and
copying strategy on each site. They will then produce a
formal report recommending a way forward designed to
reduce the current costs to the Agency.
In order to develop these reports, CWT will conduct onsite
audits for each SWARH member agency. These audits
should be completed during the remainder of the
year.
To ensure the proposed audit process works effectively,
following three sites have been chosen for the trial:
⇒ TMHS (Terang) on Monday, September 27th
⇒ WDHS (Hamilton) on Tuesday, September 28 th
⇒ HRH (Heywood) on Wednesday, September 29 th
After the trials are complete, CWT/SWARH will carry on
the audit at the remaining sites.
LORNE COMMUNITY
HOSPITAL
Lorne Community Hospital is embarking on a new phase
in Health services delivery by investigating options to
form a strategic alliance with other Health Services over
the coming twelve months.
“For example, our recent connection to the South West
Rural Health IT Network makes possible increased data
and information sharing while video conferencing now
enables region-wide education and meetings without the
need to travel,” Mr Hansen said.
Chief Executive Officer, Mr Ross Waddington said the
Board would consult with other rural agencies involved in
strategic alliances to assist in its own planning.
If you require more information please contact Ross
Waddington, Chief Executive Officer at Lorne Community
Hospital on (03) 5289 4310 or check
www.lornecommunityhospital.com.au
The Australian Resource Centre for
Healthcare Innovations (ARCHI)
www.archi.net.au
The Australian Resource Centre for Healthcare Innovations
(ARCHI) is auspiced by Hunter Area Health Service.
ARCHI’s mission is to support and increase the implementation
of effective and quality innovations in clinical
care in the Australian healthcare sector. Through its
website, newsletter, discussion groups, enquiry service
and seminars, ARCHI helps to promote information sharing
while preventing duplication of effort.
ARCHI are conducting a seminar titled, “Achieving Efficiencies
in Clinical Management: Mobile, Tele and Wireless
Technologies” from 25th-26th November 2004 in
Melbourne.
The Aims of the Seminar are:
⇒ To inform health and health information technology
professionals about strategic directions in the implementation
of mobile, tele and wireless technologies
to improve the quality and safety of clinical
management in healthcare facilities
⇒ To share information about innovative systems
where efficiencies in clinical management have
been achieved through the implementation of mobile,
tele and wireless technologies
⇒ To showcase innovations projects with demonstrated
outcomes in the efficient clinical management
of patients through the use of mobile, tele
and wireless technologies
More information is available at:
http://www.archi.net.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/158631
If you are interested in participating in this conference,
Ross Waddington, CEO at Lorne Community Hospital
has recommended that SWARH Members consider submitting
a SWARH registration collectively. If you are interested,
please contact Ross on (03) 5289 4310 or
ROSSW@BarwonHealth.org.au Registrations close
on 1 Nov 2004.
NEXT EDITION:
♦
♦
♦
Our
highly
skilled
staff
are
eagerly
waiting
to
serve !
Clinical Applications
From The SWARH Office
SWARH (Vic) Update
More information required …..contact SWARH !
C/-South West Healthcare
Ryot St Warrnambool, 3280
Ph: 03 55644000 Fax: 55631203 www.swarh.com.au
Issue 47 SWARH Newsletter
Page 4

The SWARH Network Is Growing….
SWARH remains the only fully converged multi organisational health/government network in Australia. This is a high
speed telecommunications network which supports traditional data applications (Internet, Intranet, management
systems) as well as telephony and Video. SWARH has now become the national regional model for the development of
infrastructure which is based on a significant return on investment. SWARH has demonstrated State and National
leadership to create effective business structures in regional Australia. The SWARH model will be replicated in the NE,
SE and Western areas of Victoria within the next 2 years. The model has been referenced by the National office of the
Information Economy (NOIE) in their report on broadband development to the Federal Minister for Communications.
SWARH is an Alliance of public health agencies in the South West of Victoria covering an area of approximately 60,000 sq. kilometres
connecting all public acute hospitals and associated health services in a region extending from west of Melbourne to the South Australian Border.
Issue 47 SWARH Newsletter
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