The Central Adelaide Local Health Network has launched a new digital programme which aims to help make a patient fit for surgery.

The surgical pre-rehabilitation programme dubbed My Prehab was developed in partnership with Health Translation SA, The Hospital Research Foundation, and healthcare tech company Personify Care.

According to a media release, it includes a comprehensive health screening questionnaire and provides a personalised checklist of items which patients can discuss with their GP to prepare for their surgery.

Referred patients are invited to self-screen for manageable risk factors, such as smoking, weight, frailty and poor nutrition. Their risk factors then inform a personalised guide in optimising their health before going to surgery. 

My PreHab is conducted during the waiting time between the point of referral and the patient's first appointment. By actively using this time, patients are given an opportunity to still make changes to get themselves fit for surgery.

The programme is delivered via digital pathways by Personify Care, enhancing the information flow between patients and their GPs and enabling timely access to care information. 

WHY IT MATTERS

CALHN Surgical Lead Jane Andrews noted that one in five patients experience postoperative complications, mostly among the elderly and those with comorbidities. These complications lead to poorer health outcomes, two times longer hospital stays, greater risks of readmission and higher direct health costs, she claimed. Moreover, such issues slow the patient flow in elective surgery pathways and put more pressure on waitlists.

My PreHab will help decrease these instances of complications and get twice as many surgeries done, the health network claimed.

"With health services managing ever more complex patients with long waits between referrals, appointments and then surgery, it's imperative for projects like this to explore what’s possible to improve outcomes without placing an additional burden on the acute care system," said Andrews, who leads My Prehab.

THE LARGER TREND

Last year, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, also a part of CALHN, tapped Personify Care to help digitise its Direct Access Colonoscopy programme. Since delivering the programme via digital pathways, the hospital witnessed wait times to have significantly decreased while booking surgeries could now be done three weeks in advance.

St John of God Murdoch Hospital in Perth disclosed in May that it is expanding its home care programme to its specialist surgery wards following its success in general surgery. The programme is also powered by a digital platform from Personify Care, which is used in managing patients' after-discharge conditions and detecting emerging care needs by collecting patient-reported outcome measures.

ON THE RECORD

"Empowering patients waiting for surgery to have more meaningful interactions with their clinicians and GP to reduce their underlying risk factors is good for patients and will reduce pressure on hospital systems," Personify Care CEO Ken Saman commented.