Analysis calls for greater clinical role in e-health

A survey of IT experts by the University of Sydney lends further weight to calls to halt the rollout of the NSW Clinical Information System FirstNet, with a review finding the system should be spearheaded by an IT-savvy clinician. The findings from Health Information Technology Research Laboratory director Professor Jon Patrick are based on interviews with software performance experts with experience of FirstNet. They build on previously released issues raised by the heads of seven NSW emergency departments (EDs). Among a list of recommendations emanating from his study, Professor Patrick says the rollout of FirstNet should stop, problems with the software addressed and solved where possible, and IT-savvy clinicians given a greater role in developing NSW's e-health. "If this situation is not rectified then the promise of the gains of the IT age for clinical care and a patient-centred service will be well and truly squandered," he says. Professor Patrick, from the School of Information Technologies , says problems in areas such as ED workflow have arisen from FirstNet because the software was developed by engineers with limited understanding of its end use. The configurability of the software makes it unnecessarily complicated, Professor Patrick says.