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The digital health tool developed by RMIT University and Telstra Health, in collaboration with the Digital Health Cooperative Research Centre, has won the Award for Impact from Cooperative Research Australia.
The tool developed jointly by RMIT University and Telstra Health, in collaboration with the Digital Health Cooperative Research Centre, is Australia’s first electronic screening and risk prediction tool for deterioration in aged-care residents.
The innovation reliably detects deterioration in frail aged-care residents, marking the introduction of clinical decision support software to predict deterioration – already used in acute care settings – into aged care.
Data scientist and RMIT project lead Dr Tabinda Sarwar said the complex project involved solutions for different aged-care homes, each with their own workflows and expectations for streamlining of tasks.
“We’re proud of how we overcame these challenges to develop solutions that have the capacity to impact more than 60,000 elderly residents in Australian aged-care homes,” Dr Sarwar said.
The tool has the capacity to automatically monitor both structured and free-text electronic patient records for 36 evidence-based indicators of deterioration, making it the most reliable tool of its kind developed to date.
The collaborative research team worked with gerontologists and aged-care professionals to interpret historical data and develop new predictive analytics techniques, as well as adapt existing decision support methods from the acute care sector.
Sarwar said: “It was only through this collaboration that we could gain the valuable insights to ensure our solutions were practical, effective, and tailored to real-world needs.”
Telstra Health’s chief health officer, Dr Monica Trujillo, stressed the importance of the tools and the potential they have to substantially improve the monitoring protocol for aged-care home residents without putting any extra burden on nursing staff.
The tool has undergone clinical validation and usability studies by nursing staff from multiple aged-care facilities.
“This type of innovation, which has been standard practice for so long in hospital settings, is long overdue in the residential aged-care sector and has enormous potential to uplift the safety and quality of care provided to residents,” Trujillo said.
The partners stated that the integration of new algorithms into Telstra Health’s Clinical and Care Management software is currently being planned.
Digital Health CRC CEO Annette Schmiede stressed the importance of modern data science in the medical space, explaining how the Australian-first innovation demonstrated how routinely collected data could be used to ensure elderly people received the care they deserved while easing growing demands on healthcare providers.
“Australia has a rapidly ageing population. Innovative digital health tools, like the one developed by RMIT and Telstra Health, can ensure that aged-care residents are receiving timely, personalised care and reduce the incidence of stressful and costly emergency interventions,” Schmiede said.
Cooperative Research Australia’s Excellence in Innovation Awards held in Brisbane showcased the positive impact of Australia’s established industry-research collaborations.
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