Miss Lani Wilson1,5, Mrs Kath Feely1,5, Miss Jay Hamann3, Mrs Andrea Casey3, Sharon Mongta2, Selena White2, Miss Cinnamon-Bliss Henry4, Miss Candice McKenzie1, Bodo Ballhaus1
1The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, Australia, 2The Royal Children’s Hospital, Parkville, Australia, 3Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Parkville, Australia, 4The Royal Women’s Hospital, Parkville, Australia, 5The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia
Biography:
Lani Wilson is the Senior First Nations Hospital Liaison Officer and Project Lead Officer at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Originally born and raised on Kombumerri Country (Gold Coast), Lani is a proud young Kombumerri woman and maintains strong connections to the land and sea on Country.
Lani moved to Naarm/Melbourne during the pandemic to aide in the care and support of Mob accessing and receiving care at the Royal Melbourne Hospital
Abstract:
Purpose:
To provide an overview of how Aboriginal Health staff improved electronic systems to support care.
Problem:
In 2023 Aboriginal Health teams at four Parkville health services in Victoria started an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) optimisation journey. The first meeting identified opportunities to better capture relevant cultural information and support care. We developed a prioritised plan to improve recording of Aboriginal patient information and improve cultural safety.
Outcome:
Nine areas of improvement were identified that impacted all health services, one impacted two health services and one improvement impacted one organisation.
We wanted to empower all staff to consider our consumers’ cultural needs. New questions were co-designed and are being finalised with feedback from consumers. The questions are in EMR for staff and available in our patient portal for First Nations people to complete. Responses are easily accessed by all staff at our health services.
Simple and reliable identification of consumers with First Nations family members was a priority. A question was developed, and EMR reporting updated to provide visibility.
It was agreed to develop and implement standard terminology when displaying Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander in electronic systems, which included when a limited number of characters was available. The Aboriginal Health teams led the governance process at each organisation to endorse the agreed terminology.
Conclusion:
Working together allowed us to optimise priority improvements in providing visibility and allowing cultural identity to be captured, recognised and respected, ensuring we can deliver excellent and culturally safe care to First Nations communities.