Title : On nursing informatics: Defining information quality needs in western Australian electronic medical record program for better health
Abstract:
Western Australian (WA) Health System is statewide using same policies, processes and documentations in all the clinical settings. Many times, nursing information is collected by our clinicians who carry out:
- Transfers of care from one hospital to another via ambulances and Flying Doctors, and
- Clinical Point of Care (POC) services to our consumers across community settings.
Currently, a statewide Electronic Medical Record (EMR) is being implemented in WA. It aims to be a unique and a secure electronic medical record for every consumer. As a result, WA Health Information Quality Policy indicates that high information quality in the health sector is needed to support consumer care, funding, management, planning, monitoring, reporting, National Data Provisions, and strategic decision making. This paper will present “how the current assessment scales (Low: Needs attention; Medium: Adequate; High: Excellent) of the information quality can be improved such that we can have maximum benefits from it…”. Firstly, in the context of nursing information assets, the principles of the WA Health Information Quality Standards are discussed, which are: Relevance; Timeliness; Coherence and comparability; Accessibility and Clarity. Further, this paper will illustrate how Geospatial Information Quality handling techniques are effectively utilised to address the Information Quality needs, that is the extent that nursing information is fit for purpose of real time sharing that is required to monitor, diagnose, treat and manage illness continuity of care, Finally, the that values such techniques will add to WA Health System, for example: Location- Based Information Assets Management will be mentioned.
