Rural Designing Care projects
Western District Health Services
Wodonga Health Services
Project Title:
To develop and implement improved
(1) patient admission, (2) bed allocation and (3)
discharge summary processes by:
Project Outcomes:
 Redesigning resources role/function to meet the new
requirements including processes which impact on
patient admission and discharge.
 Improving efficiency by ‘Re-engineering patient
flows’ through improving access and utilisation of IT
systems
 Redesigning the allocation of resources to improve
patient care coordination particularly bed allocation.
 Taking an active and leading role in the development
of change strategies, which have the potential to
improve patient care.
 Developing an improved process to increase the
compliance and quality of information of discharge
summaries
 Developing courses of action to improve efficiencies
and meet additional requirements related to Patient
Privacy Principles, utilising the skills and knowledge
of members of the multi-disciplinary clinical and
management team.
Project Title:
Redesigning the transmission of the
results:
 Establishing secure encrypted two-way e-mail
communication for the transfer of requests, reports
and images.
 Implementing digital imaging equipment solutions,
including optical disk storage of digital image, to
complement existing ultrasound and CT digital output
– the ‘digital film-less X-ray Department’ – to
increase productivity and cost-effectiveness.
 Creating a 24/365-teleradiology network to link the
WRHS public service to the Border Medical Imaging
private service.
Project Outcomes:
 Decreased risk of adverse outcomes due to delay in
reporting.
 Rapid secure exchange of requests for and reports of,
medical imaging services.
 Improved utilisation of the medical imaging
workforce.
 Decreased cost of operating the medical imaging
service.
 Incentives to referrers and service providers to
implement evidence-based practice
Wimmera Health Care
South West Health Care
Project Title: To improve the process of care for
patients
with
Respiratory
disease
(Asthma,
COAD/Respiratory infection) from arrival in the
Emergency department through to discharge and
beyond.
Project Outcomes:
To improve the process of care for treatment of patients
with respiratory disease, including adult and paediatric
asthma, chronic obstructive airways disease and
respiratory infection through examination of current
process, identification of blockages, literature and peer
review and redesign of a team based care plan for each
D.R.G.
Project Title: Fast Tracking the Elderly through the
Emergency Department
Project Outcomes:
 Increased patient satisfaction
 Reduced waiting times in Emergency Department
 Improved quality documentation
 Increased staff satisfaction
Latrobe Regional Health Services
Project Title:
Design a system of managing
clinically unstable patients be incorporated into clinical
practice at LRH. Such a system would improve the
efficiency and effectiveness of hospital services and has
the potential to impact significantly on health outcomes.
Project Outcomes:
 Immediate and appropriate management of clinically
unstable patients;
 Improvements in the quality of patient care; and
 Improvements in patient outcomes with a likely
reduction in the number of cardiac arrests, permanent
disabilities and deaths.
Project Title: To improve the process of care for
patient undergoing Bowel Surgery (Large and small)
from Pre-admission clinic through to post discharge.
Project Outcomes:
An existing care process plan for small and large bowel
surgery and appendicectomy is available within our
organisation but was developed without reference to
clinical evidence and from a medical/nursing perspective
only. Documentation is by nurses alone and there is no
evidence of process improvement or system for review.
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Rural Designing Care projects
Project Title:
To improve the management of
patients with delirium through the creation and
introduction of a pathway of care that is evidence-based:
Project Outcomes:
 Length of Stay (LOS)
 Discharge destination
 Mobility vs diagnosis, age, comorbities
 Continence
 Number of Pharmaceutical Medication to alter
behaviour prescribed for patients with Delirium
 Cost effective redesigned care process
 Falls/fractures.
Ballarat Health Services
Project Title:
Waiting list and bed management
functions including the redesign of the elective surgery
prioritisation, resource allocation and admission
processes.
Project Outcomes:
 Ensure patients are accurately registered and located
in Ballart Health Services
 Reduce waiting time for surgery in time critical cases
 Monitor patients sent to management queues
 Direct saving of $25,000
 Reduce penalties for poor data quality
Project Title:
Redesign discharge documentation
and coding of patients
Project Outcome:
 95% of discharge documentation is completed and
coded within 2 weeks of a patient’s discharge.
Project Title:
Medication Management
Project Outcomes:
 Reduce the incidence of adverse drug reactions
through early detection of ADR’s with a potential
saving of $210,200
 Reduce staff time to gain accurate medication
information with a savings against nursing and
medical budgets of $178,000
 Education tool for new junior medical staff
Bendigo Health Care Group
Project Title:
Redesign the process of care for high
risk patients
Project Outcomes:
 Improved timeliness of service provision to high-risk
patient groups through improved referral systems and
care coordination processes
 Increased appropriateness of referrals to service
providers
 Increased percentage of high risk patients receiving
care coordination services during the episode of care
 Increase in percentage patient goals identified
 Increase in percentage patient goals achieved
 Reduced bed blockages due to lack of early service
identification and referral.
 Decreased representations to Emergency Department
for same or similar condition
 Decrease in number of readmissions for same or
similar condition
 Increased number of staff with process redesign
experience
Project Title:
Order/results management - includes
the functions associated with the generation, routing,
review, approval, electronic signature, receipt and
documentation of all inpatient and outpatient orders
relating to the provision of patient care.
Project Outcomes:
 Reduce unnecessary duplication of patient testing,
reducing inconvenience and potential risks to patients
with potential saving of $81,250
 Reduce time required to access allied health
assessment results with direct saving of $65,000
 Improve compliance with best practice through
decision support systems
 Reduce paper work and time searching and retrieving
medical records with a potential saving of $31,675
Barwon Health
Project Title:
Redesign outpatient clinics:
Project Outcomes:
 Increased patient satisfaction and increased General
Practitioner satisfaction
 Decrease in “Did Not Attend” rate
 Decrease waiting time in the department
 Decreased clinic delays and overbooked clinics
 Minimise length of stay in specified surgical cases
 Improve documentation on processes of care delivery
 Variance analysis of specified surgical cases
 Tracking of clinical care and expected outcomes.
Metropolitan Ambulance Service & Rural
Ambulance Victoria
Project Title:
Clinical Practice Guidelines –
Performance, monitor & evaluation
Project Aim:
To establish a methodology for the systemic evaluation
of the effectiveness, efficiency and application of an
individual Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG).
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Rural Designing Care projects
Central Gippsland Health Service
Wangaratta District Base Hospital
(RHS)
Project Title: To redesign the admissions process
Project Title: To redesign the delivery of Pharmacy
Services
Project Outcomes
 Restructure of staffing to enable the meeting of
service demands
 Freeing up of staff (from routine stock control tasks)
to work more efficiently in the Pharmacy Department.
 Computerized ordering / dispensing system/ patient
drug packaging.
 Measurable reduction in drug related incidents
throughout the organisation.
 Better meeting of client needs
 Better patient medication teaching
 Improved staff satisfaction/Reduction of staff stress.
West Gippsland Hospital
Project Title: To redesign the admissions process.
Bairnsdale Health Services
Project Title: Redesigning the process of care for
elective patients.
Swan Hill Hospital
Echuca Regional Health Service
Project Title: Hospital project of benefit to the
community.
Project Title:
Redesign the process of aged care
service delivery in the region to improve patient flow
and care coordination.
Project Outcomes:
 To maximise delivery of effective acute hospital and
aged care services by improving the flow of patients
from the community/hospital into appropriate aged
care residential facilities.
 Going beyond hospital boundaries to deliver
improvements for patients, including the development
of partnerships with other local aged care residential
facilities such as Englebert Lodge and Murrayvale. It
is anticipated that this will create opportunities for
joint working and joint learning between these rural
agencies.
 Standardising admission documentation across
residential facilities.
 Developing a database of all client details including
utilisation of aged care services.
Project Outcomes:
 To reduce the unnecessary usage of inpatient
services for assessment and service provision of
care.
 To shift the assessment process to a community
model. It is proposed the client be assessed in
their own environment and service linkage will be
coordinated and case managed.
 To improve client satisfaction levels within this
sub-group population mix of people.
 To increase clinician acceptance of innovative
community focus service delivery.
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Goulburn Valley Health
Project Title:
Re-engineering clinical and service
referrals and advice service for GP’s, and Aged Care
Providers for general medical patients, in particular,
respiratory disease and chronic cardiac disease.
Rural Ambulance Victoria
Project Title: Standardising and improving rural
ambulance call-taking and dispatch processes.
Project Outcomes: Standardised process for call-taking
and dispatch
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