October 2007 part 1
Dear all
Here is the latest update before the half term break…not a bad prospect now that summer is back (in North East Scotland anyway…).
In the news
The Parliamentary Health Committee has recently released its report on the Electronic Patient Record (EPR). It concludes that developing EPR systems is vital for the future of healthcare in England as they have the potential to bring huge benefits to patients, giving them greater control over their own healthcare. RCN press release regarding this report can be found at http://www.rcn.org.uk/news/mediadisplay.php?ID=2546&area=Press
MS/NHS health Common User Interface (CUI) site is launched http://www.mscui.net/
The CUI is designed to help improve patient safety and the efficiency of clinicians by providing them with a standard user interface for clinical systems:
From Canada: National Network of Clinicians to Share e-health Experiences with Peers
http://www.infoway-inforoute.ca/en/Home/home.aspx The UK network of e-Health nurses is on http://www.ehealthnurses.org.uk/index.html
Australian Law Commission propose specific health legislation to cover Electronic Health Records http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/alrc/publications/dp/72/overview.pdf
Jobs/Appointments
Five new members to the Patient Information Advisory Group (PIAG) http://www.advisorybodies.doh.gov.uk/piag/ are needed. See http://www.appointments.org.uk/view_vac.asp?ID=1764
Publications/Resources
The new edition of Health Informatics Now is available at http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=nav.8336 An interesting development noted in p11 about a new qualification framework “designed to equip and users of systems, rolled out through NHS Connecting for Health, with a recognised award”.
The Care Record Development Board Working Group on Children’s Issues has produced an illustrated leaflet about care records for younger children. It is available to download http://www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/crdb/workstreams/childrens-print.pdf
Electronic Healthcare,6(1) 2007:95-102 Adoption of Information Technology in Primary Care Physician Offices in Alberta and Denmark, Part 1: Historical, Technical and Cultural Forces. This article evaluates the current state, driving forces and general health system factors that have impacted two culturally and historically different medical jurisdictions - Denmark, a member of the European Union, and Alberta, Canada. Although similar in many respects, there are subtle differences between these two relatively autonomous health systems that have led to varying rates of uptake of medical office computing. Part 2: A Novel Comparison Methodology” is available online too: http://www.longwoods.com/product.php?productid=18936&cat=487&page=1
BMA: Choose and book guidance. This is part of a series of guidance documents on the National Programme for IT (NPfIT) relating to England. http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/chooseandbookguide
BMC Family Practice: Information from the Internet and the doctor-patient relationship: the patient perspective - a qualitative study. This study examines patients' views of the effect of the Internet on their relationship with doctors.
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2296/8/47/abstract
AHRQ: Health Information Technology for Improving Quality of Care in Primary Care Settings. This proposes “frameworks and specific, testable changes that could help primary care clinicians and administrators, as well as policymakers and vendors, accelerate progress toward fulfilling the promise of health IT for health care quality”. http://healthit.ahrq.gov/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_1248_661809_0_0_18/AHRQ_HIT_Primary_Care_July07.pdf
Care Services Improvement Partnership (CSIP): Telecare eNewsletter August 2007. CSIP is responsible for providing general implementation support to organisations building their telecare and telehealth programmes. http://www.integratedcarenetwork.gov.uk/index.cfm?pid=486&catalogueContentID=2307
Online courses for the Spine eKnowledge tool and the Personal Demographics eLearning course (England) available at http://www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/systemsandservices/etd/elearning
Consultations
Feedback is sought on National Clinical Data Standards (Scotland) for Lung Cancer, Lung Cancer Pathology, Colorectal Cancer, Colorectal Cancer Pathology, AHP Stroke and Rapid Access Chest Pain. The consultation documents are available from www.clinicaldatasets.scot.nhs.uk/ or the Clinical Datasets Section of the Health and Social care Data Dictionary (www.datadictionary.scot.nhs.uk) in 'under development'. Please note that the deadline for feedback for the consultations is Friday 26th October 2007.
http://www.npci.org.uk/ is a new NHS e-learning resource designed specifically for busy health care professionals and managers. The content covers prescribing, therapeutics and medicines management. Current therapeutics areas include: cardiovascular (including diabetes), CNS and mental health, common infections, pain management and respiratory tract conditions. Other areas are devoted to information mastery and medicines management — including developing people and organisations, general medicines management, improvement skills and tools, patient safety and risk, patients and their medicines, review of medicines, and service efficiency and reducing waste. The site also includes recorded workshops, quizzes to test your knowledge, regular blogs and podcasts and even the facility to join a discussion forum. We are continuing to load content but would value your comments via our online feedback form on the existing subject matter so that adjustments can be made to the site before the wider launch early in 2008.
Events/Workshops
The Training Hub for Operative Technologies in Healthcare (THOTH) http://www.thoth.uk.com/RVE9a963421987448fda24d41a7d89b4445,,.aspx is seeking delegates from Trusts, agencies and other groups across the NHS to its 3rd Stakeholder Workshop which will be held in Birmingham on 19 October. THOTH is an NHS body, set up in 2006, with a national remit to work with Trusts and other interested parties in developing new and innovative ways to develop training and education to support and facilitate greater uptake of technology into the NHS. Attendance is free and if you wish to attend the Workshop please send a brief e-mail headed "THOTH WORKSHOP DELEGATE" and including your full name, title and affiliation to: tim.rubidge@chelwest.nhs.uk
Best wishes
Sharon