Queensland Virtual Hospital extends to emergency care

The Queensland state government has set aside A$27 million ($18 million) to expand the Queensland Virtual Hospital's services to cover emergency care.

Based on a media release, the new Virtual Emergency Care Service will cater to non-life-threatening urgent conditions, including acute respiratory illnesses, allergic reactions, rashes, bites, pain, infections, burns, children with fevers, gastroenteritis, and vertigo.

Meanwhile, an adjacent service, the Queensland Telestroke Service, will be integrated into the Queensland Virtual Hospital at the end of the year. 

MED connects EMR via cloud

Telemedicine service My Emergency Doctor can now provide systems interoperability to enable hospitals to conduct virtual board rounds. 

Recently, MED, which connects senior specialist emergency doctors with hospitals virtually 24/7, implemented InterSystems' cloud-based managed integration engine to support the virtual overnight supervision service of an unnamed major suburban hospital, enhancing transfer of care and length of stay. 

According to a media release, the said hospital preferred to interoperate its systems with MED's EMR system through its existing HL7 messaging standard. Until recently, MED has done EMR integrations using a secure file-sharing service. "With HL7 interoperability, we can receive more information more quickly and create a better clinical workflow. If something happens, we get the data immediately, and a nurse doesn’t need to check it," MED's technology head Ben Rhodes shared. 

InterSystems' HealthShare Health Connect Cloud will be further extended to provide interoperability to MED's other telemedicine services, with Fluffy Spider Technologies, InterSystems' partner, providing ongoing support. 

NSW to trial body cameras in hospitals

The state government of New South Wales is undertaking a 12-month trial of body-worn cameras in select public hospitals. 

According to a media statement, the trial seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of the technology in deterring and de-escalating violent incidents in hospitals.  It noted that cases of aggressive assaults on public hospital staff have increased in recent years.

The trial will be rolled out in nine public hospitals, including Westmead and Nepean Hospitals. Up to 300 body-worn cameras will be deployed to hospital security staff. The equipment will only be used to record scenes believed to be showing the risk of harm to staff, patients or others.

The use of body-worn cameras is one of the many recommendations offered in the Review of Hospital Security by former NSW Police Minister Peter Anderson to improve hospital safety and security.