Melbourne-based healthcare software solutions provider Alcidion has designed a new COVID-19 assessment tool in its early warning software Patientrack to help hospitals identify potential cases sooner. Patientrack, which is used by hospitals across Australia, New Zealand and the UK to detect deadly conditions like sepsis and acute kidney injury, can now be used by nurses to carry out critical assessments of each patient presenting to hospital with a respiratory illness.

The COVID-19 assessment tool is live and in use at a NHS UK Trust and is available to all hospitals using Patientrack at no additional cost. Alcidion has also configured the New Zealand Ministry of Health COVID screening assessment in its Patientrack solution, developed with input from a respiratory physician.

HOW IT WORKS

When using the tool, hospital staff on the ward are guided to a series of questions covering the patient’s symptoms, including the patient’s circumstances and their physiological measurements. This key information is then entered directly into Patientrack, so nurses can track observations via a computer or mobile device so it is accessible to all healthcare staff responsible for the patient’s care.

Questions are tailored to the hospitals’ specific coronavirus assessment criteria and can be configured by the hospital to keep up with the evolving situation. Depending on the hospital’s requirements, the system can then place a flag on the patient’s record or automatically alert appropriate healthcare professionals like respiratory doctors and infection control teams if answers indicate signs of COVID-19.

WHY IT MATTERS

The tool removes the need for paper records and enables hospitals to provide real-time and complete information to health departments such as NHS England, on the number of people screened, tested positive and who have died. Clinical leads will also be able to use the information internally to gauge a site-wide view of their hospital to see all affected patients and their status across the hospital.

THE LARGER TREND

As countries around the world deal with surging cases of the COVID-19 pandemic, many software vendors and EHR providers have implemented tools/add-on features that specifically help address COVID-19 challenges, be it triaging, diagnosis and surveillance/monitoring of patients. Examples include updates and features by EHR providers like Allscripts, Cerner and Epic and others, Healthcare IT News reported. 

The new COVID-19 Healthcare Coalition was also formed with members including Amazon Web Services, Arcadia.io, athenahealth, Buoy Health, CommonWell Health Alliance, Epic, HCA Healthcare, Intermountain Healthcare, LabCorp, Leavitt Partners, MassChallenge, Mayo Clinic, Microsoft, MITRE, nference, Rush University System for Health, Salesforce, University of California Healthcare System and Walgreens. The collective aim is to save lives by helping healthcare organizations gain better data insights to fight back against coronavirus.

Earlier this month, ACT Health in Australia went live with Alcidion’s Miya Precision health analytics tool at two campuses, Canberra Hospital and The University of Canberra Hospital. The implementation complements the existing use of Alcidion’s Patientrack solution and is the first step in a five-year agreement.

ON THE RECORD

David Proctor, the implementation consultant at Alcidion who built the initial coronavirus assessment tool, said: “This is much about supporting early intervention and early treatment. Nurses have always used Patientrack to help identify deterioration early, and to allow a swift clinical response. This new development is designed to help them detect coronavirus early, so that hospitals can deliver treatment sooner, move patients to intensive care faster, and get them the care they need more quickly.”