eAwards 2019

The eAwards are an annual event celebrating individuals and teams who are advancing healthcare through digital innovation.

2019 eAwards winners announced

eAward of the Year winner and Collaborate and Connect category winner

Advance Care Yarning by Darling Downs HHS 

The Advance Care Yarning app is the development of a culturally specific app to allow Aboriginal people to develop their own End of Life (EOL) care resource.

The app started from a simple observation with health care staff noticing younger and older indigenous people interacting with technology when they were in the hospital setting, but they also knew there was no easy to understand culturally specific resource to help them develop an End of Life care plan.

Putting the two together, the app provides a culturally sensitive way to engage with Aboriginal people to gather information about family, wishes and healthcare.

The app development was a combined effort and drew on the expertise and input from multiple sources and agencies including nursing staff, drug and court support workers, Indigenous health workers, and other community and Darling Downs HHS staff.

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Deliver Results category winner

Darling Downs Health pathways by Darling Downs HHS 

The Darling Downs Health Pathways (DDHP) is a web-based, virtual health neighbourhood aimed at fostering collaboration between hospitals and community services, spanning both public and private systems; and primary healthcare services.

This is an innovative, web-based, information portal. The pathway provides contemporary, effective, evidence-based and localised referral pathways and resources. These connect, inform, and empower primary health care clinicians and create referral efficiencies across the range of health care.

The program is on track to deliver 300 pathways across the Darling Downs Region by June of this year.

Darling Downs Health pathways by Darling Downs HHS

Foster Innovation category winner

DelICiUS - An electronic ICU delirium screening tool by Metro North HHS 

The DEL-ICiUs initiative saw the development of an electronic ICU delirium screening tool by the Critical Care Research Group at the Prince Charles Hospital.

Hospital-acquired delirium often occurs in patients within Intensive Care Units (ICU) with up to 80 per cent of patients experiencing the condition. Delirium is associated with multiple complications and prolonged hospital stays. It can result in falls or self-removal of catheters and lines by patients. Current screening processes for delirium are time-intensive and can lead to late diagnosis or missed cases.

DEL-ICiUs is a patient-friendly, easy-to-administer electronic app which facilitates accurate and early delirium diagnosis via eScreening in ICU inpatients. Early diagnosis of delirium assists medical staff, patients and their families and ensures patients receive appropriate care.

DelICiUS - An electronic ICU delirium screening tool by Metro North HHS

2019 eAwards finalists

Collaborate and Connect category

Advance Care Yarning - Darling Downs HHS

The Advance Care Yarning app is the development of a culturally specific app to allow Aboriginal people to develop their own End of Life (EOL) care resource.

The app started from a simple observation with health care staff noticing younger and older indigenous people interacting with technology when they were in the hospital setting, but they also knew there was no easy to understand culturally specific resource to help them develop an End of Life care plan.

Putting the two together, the app provides a culturally sensitive way to engage with Aboriginal people to gather information about family, wishes and healthcare.

The app development was a combined effort and drew on the expertise and input from multiple sources and agencies including nursing staff, drug and court support workers, Indigenous health workers, and other community and Darling Downs HHS staff.

The River Sentiment tracker – Cairns and Hinterland HHS & Torres and Cape HHS

The Regional Information Via Electronic Record – RIVeR Sentiment Tracker is a tailored, culturally inclusive stakeholder change management tool that has been developed in collaboration with indigenous health workers, educators and Far North Queensland stakeholders to support one of the largest digital health programs undertaken in rural and remote Queensland.

Through a simple digital interface, it uses different learning styles; visual, auditory, reading and kinesthetic to support the change journey and provide practical guidance for local leaders and project team members about how best to support staff throughout implementation.

The customised tool ensured that the change approach is inclusive and respectful of all staff across Far North Queensland.

Tele Cardiac Investigations – Metro North HHS

The Tele-Cardiac Investigations team aims to increase access to Cardiac Investigations in Queensland’s regional and rural areas through telehealth technologies. The Cardiology team based at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital use telehealth video technology, in conjunction with on-site regional support staff, to conduct cardiac testing on patients in regional/rural hospitals.

The Tele-Cardiac Investigations team are working collaboratively with 17 different hospitals across Queensland to help reduce waitlists, decrease patient travel and expedite the diagnosis of coronary artery disease and arrhythmias.

The collaboration and partnership with regional/rural hospitals has resulted in patients now able to get early, local, access to Cardiac Investigations, which aids in the timely identification of cardiac disease.

Deliver results category

Darling Downs Health pathways – Darling Downs HHS

The Darling Downs Health Pathways (DDHP) is a web-based, virtual health neighbourhood aimed at fostering collaboration between hospitals and community services, spanning both public and private systems; and primary healthcare services.

This is an innovative, web-based, information portal. The pathway provides contemporary, effective, evidence-based and localised referral pathways and resources. These connect, inform, and empower primary health care clinicians and create referral efficiencies across the range of health care.

The program is on track to deliver 300 pathways across the Darling Downs Region by June of this year.

Community nighthawks (Liz Spinney) – Cairns and Hinterland HHS

Mobile community health clinicians were experiencing issues accessing online tools due to poor connectivity and intermittent internet signal strength around the wider Cairns area.

Determined to resolve this issue - and having spent countless hours researching alternative solutions - Clinical Nurse Consultant, Liz Spinney came upon the Nighthawk mobile router as a potential solution.

Having identified the solution, Liz she set her sights on securing funding to help the Community Health Clinicians access the tools they need to be able to better serve their community clients.

Following their successful implementation in Cairns Hospital, the use of Nighthawk routers is now being trialed in other Hospital and Health Services that also experiencing connectivity issues.

Inpatient Risk Management Audits (IRMA) Dashboard - Cairns and Hinterland HHS

Clinical staff at Cairns Hospital recognised that patient documentation was contained in different places making it difficult to get real-time visibility of key clinical information pertinent to the safe and timely delivery of care to patients.

In response, the Inpatient Risk Management Audits (IRMA) dashboard was developed which provides real-time access for multidisciplinary clinical staff to see relevant clinical information for any patient during their stay in Cairns Hospital.  

The IRMA dashboard is now helping the clinical staff at Cairns Hospital recognise, respond and view completed comprehensive patient assessments upon admission to hospital and throughout the patient's hospital journey.

Foster Innovation category

DeliCiUS - An electronic ICU delirium screening tool – Metro North HHS

The DEL-ICiUs initiative saw the development of an electronic ICU delirium screening tool by the Critical Care Research Group at the Prince Charles Hospital.

Hospital-acquired delirium often occurs in patients within Intensive Care Units (ICU) with up to 80 per cent of patients experiencing the condition. Delirium is associated with multiple complications and prolonged hospital stays. It can result in falls or self-removal of catheters and lines by patients. Current screening processes for delirium are time-intensive and can lead to late diagnosis or missed cases.

DEL-ICiUs is a patient-friendly, easy-to-administer electronic app which facilitates accurate and early delirium diagnosis via eScreening in ICU inpatients. Early diagnosis of delirium assists medical staff, patients and their families and ensures patients receive appropriate care.

PD Buddy – Metro South HHS

PD-Buddy is a smartphone and web-based interactive system that helps guide Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) patients through every step of their dialysis treatment. It not only monitors patient’s health measures, including fluid exchange tracking but also assists with medication management. The system also includes easy-to-understand support material delivered via multimedia.

As of July 2018, 33 patients from the PD Unit at Logan Hospital completed a feasibility study of PD-Buddy. Results of the study indicated that the platform could potentially offer a comprehensive care model providing health measure monitoring and sharing capabilities between PD patients and their treating clinicians. 

Proceedings are currently underway to establish a multi-site randomised controlled trial in Queensland.

Data Clinical Education and techniques by the bedside – Sunshine Coast HHS

The Nursing and Midwifery Practice Development (NMPD) team at Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service (SCHHS) identified a need to support clinical skills development at the point of care.

This led to the development of a suite of educational and learning tools including Clinical Assessment Tools (CATS), Coaching Tool (TOOLS), Coaching Tips (TIPS), Credentialing Processes (CREDS) and Tutorials (TUTES) to support clinicians at the bedside.

In the past two years the TUTE concept has moved into the clinical space providing education at the point of care. Through the use of QR codes, learners can scan a code with their mobile phone or smart device and watch short, pre-approved tutorials prior to performing a procedure.

To date a total of 16 TUTES have been developed and embedded into educational and learning tools for nurses and midwives. The use of technologically enhanced learning has allowed our team to better support more clinicians than ever before at the bedside where it really counts.

2019 eAwards nominees

Collaborate and Connect category

  • AH_Trip Implementation Support - Metro South HHS
  • CHQ Project Echo - Children's Health Queensland
  • Connecting Care-West Moreton Health ieMR project - West Moreton HHS
  • John Tracey - Children's Health Queensland
  • MSHPrescribe - Digital prescribing guidelines - Metro South HHS
  • Nurse Navigation Patient Journey Mapping - Sunshine Coast HHS
  • PFM Clinical Task Manager - Central Queensland HHS
  • Prevention Division - Prevention Division
  • QEII ED Nursing - Metro South HHS
  • Supporting rural clinicians using wearable interactive telepresence technology, with a focus on trauma injuries - Metro North HSS

Deliver results category

  • CHQ Business Intelligence Team - Children's Health Queensland
  • Driving a modern working environment for a mobile health workforce with Office 365 and Windows 10 - eHealth Queensland
  • Emergence of a digital platform to enhance person-centred care for public health: a legacy of Zika Mozzie Seeker - Metro South HHS
  • Medical Imaging Informatics Solution (MIIS) - Gold Coast HHS
  • MSH research compliance-powertrials - Metro South HHS
  • Nutrition Lead, prepare Nutrition and Food Services Department for transition to ieMR - Gold Coast HHS
  • Patient-reported information using AboutMe - Metro north HHS
  • Pharmacist prioritisation tool (Nathan Zipf) - Gold Coast HHS
  • Rapid Application Delivery using software streaming technology - eHealth Queensland

Foster Innovation category

  • ACP from the ED - Metro South HHS
  • Children's Health Queensland Population Based Planning - Children's Health Queensland
  • Colorectal Unit - Metro South HHS
  • Digital Innovation Hub - eHealth Queensland
  • eHealth ieMRSMS Web Application for Outpatient Appointment Management - eHealth Queensland
  • Eye of the storm - Metro North HHS
  • MATES (Maternity & Anenatal Telehealth Service) - Central QLD HHS
  • REthinking Model of Outpatient Diabetes Care Utilising Ehealth - Metro South HHS
  • Rockhampton Hospital TeleAudiology Assessment Clinic - Central QLD HHS
  • Statewide Anaesthesia and Peroperative Care clinical network (SWAPNet), Difficult airway alert - Clinical Excellence Division
  • The River Sentiment Tracker - Cairns and Hinterland HHS & Torres and Cape HHS
  • Using technology to put customers first - eHealth Queensland
  • West Moreton Website redesign and geolocation Project - West Moreton HHS

About the eAwards

The eAwards are an annual event celebrating individuals and teams who are advancing healthcare through digital innovation.

In 2019 the awards are once again recognising individual or team achievements across three categories – Collaborate and Connect, Deliver Results, and Foster Innovation. Finalists across each category are also in the running for the eAward of the Year 2019.

Nominations are open for current or recently completed initiatives that were working, ready to work, or established within the eligibility period of 1 April 2018 – 1 May 2019.

2018 winners

The winners in each category were:

  • eAward of the Year: Transforming digital data into BAU for quality systems by Metro South HHS.
  • Collaborate and Connect: Advance Care Planning Tracker by Metro South HHS.
  • Deliver Results: Digital Early Warning Tool by Townsville Hospital and Health Service.
  • Foster Innovation: Dr Alexander (Alex) Cottle for Fostering Innovation in Digital Anaesthetics.