Quote Of The Year

Timeless Quotes - Sadly The Late Paul Shetler - "Its not Your Health Record it's a Government Record Of Your Health Information"

or

H. L. Mencken - "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."

Tuesday, November 01, 2016

Things In South Australia Seem To Be Going From Bad To Worse. Something Needs To Change Soon!

In the ongoing saga that is SA E-Health we had two biggies. First – and very sadly – we have this:

No access to records as Socceroo was dying

- on October 28, 2016, 3:12 pm
A former Socceroo who suffered an agonising death in an Adelaide hospital had a "not for resuscitation" status but medical staff had trouble accessing his records and attempted CPR, a nurse says.
Steve Herczeg died in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital on September 19 because his urinary catheter had somehow become attached to an oxygen supply, bursting his bladder and collapsing his lungs.
Enrolled nurse Kayla Woodward has told an inquest that medical staff performed CPR for about 13 minutes before she gained access to the electronic patient records, and efforts to revive Mr Herczeg were stopped.
Ms Woodward had another staff member helping her but the state-wide system, known as the Enterprise Patient Administration System (EPAS), was not working.
"At the time a colleague was trying to help me get into the EPAS system, just trying to get it to load up," she told the South Australian Coroner's Court on Friday.
"But it wasn't loading. We were trying to load on two laptops at the same time."
Ms Woodward was the nurse who administered to Mr Herczeg after he was transferred from the emergency department to the respiratory ward, the inquest heard.
Lots more here:
Surely this is just an awful failure of system training and system design of what is a vital function.
There are many reports covering the Coronial Inquest – with this one, from the local paper, being typical.

SA Health’s EPAS record ‘confusing’, could damage coronial inquests, State Coroner says

Andrew Hough, The Advertiser
October 24, 2016 8:55pm
THE state’s controversial new electronic patient medical system is “confusing” and its complex hard copy records almost indecipherable, the State Coroner has warned.
Mark Johns on Monday raised concerns about the potential negative impacts the Enterprise Patient Administration System could have on important coronial inquests.
The Coroners Court heard that among medical blunders was the contentious EPAS system failing during critical moments.
The court later heard the “confusing” system was almost impossible to decipher. Registered nurse Suvas Kc struggled at times to explain its codes, described later by Mr Johns as “bizarre”.
Raising concerns about its complexity, Mr Johns told the court he had written to Health Minister Jack Snelling more than a year ago outlining his longstanding concerns.
“If this is an indication what we are going to end up in the Coroner’s Court when EPAS is more widely used I have concerns for the way (we) will be able to cope,” he said.
More here:
At the same time that all this was unfolding I saw this….

EPAS Program Manager

  • Department for Health & Ageing, Adelaide CBD
  • Indicative Total Remuneration: $126,911 – Temp F/T (up to 29/12/2017) – MAS3
You will be directly responsible for managing the delivery of specific projects that relate to critical Enterprise Patient Administration System (EPAS) priorities and goals. You will be required to plan, lead, coordinate, control and manage timely, high quality and cost effective projects and provide expert advice and consultancy services. You will also be required to lead, manage and monitor staff as required such as IT contractors, suppliers and consultants. As the Program Manager, you will provide authoritative advice, leadership, and manage the coordination of the operational outcomes for the EPAS Program, including management of outcomes, milestones and associated documents required to successfully complete this project of work. This position provides the critical conduit to enable and facilitate high level communication channels, collaboration and coordination of functional and operational streams within SA Health, as well as providing the key interface between SA Health and Allscripts.
To be successful in this role, you will have extensive experience in managing projects, staff, business plans and multi-million dollar budgets within a large and complex organisation. You must have exceptional ability to plan, lead, implement, evaluate and manage multiple, complex projects within the framework of the corporate objectives and in consideration of operational, political, financial and strategic issues. You must also be confident in providing expert advisory and consultation services at a senior level, including interpretation and application of policies and legislation. In addition, your high-level research and analytical skills will equip you to identify and exploit emerging technical and business opportunities and provide high level strategic advice.
Appointment will be subject to a satisfactory Criminal History Check.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants are encouraged to apply. Job Ref: 609320
Here is the link – rather suggesting major job losses!
(There are others as well on the same site).
I wonder is all this linked in any way. One has to feel pretty sad for all those involved.
David.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sadly, the job description is a typical public service one. Project management stuff including the regular "outcomes, documents, milestones, business plans and multi-million dollar budgets". "Exceptional ability to plan, lead, implement, evaluate and manage multiple, complex projects within the framework of the corporate objectives and in consideration of operational, political, financial and strategic issues. You must also be confident in providing expert advisory and consultation services at a senior level, including interpretation and application of policies and legislation."
So, what about the HUMAN element, that makes sure the thing actually works and that nurses can actually use it? Where is the job criterion for that? Where does the buck stop for that? These role descriptions are so far from reality they are laughable and death is what sadly results. And anyone who thinks the MyHR will be any different - tell em their dreamin'.

Anonymous said...

Well the role is for a project manager, not a social worker or change manager.

Anonymous said...

Program and project management are two very different disciplines, what this add demonstrates is a lack of understanding of this. The job title is for a program manager but the description and salary is for a project manager for a large project with elements of an escape goat. Looking at this I can bet the problem is the project/program board are probably making (up) day to day decision of task management issues thus undermining the project planning, and not governing the program.

Anonymous said...

Re Nov 02, 2016 12:07 AM - These role descriptions are so far from reality they are laughable. Anyone who thinks the MyHR will be any different - tell em their dreamin'.