Update provided by Dr Anna Janssen
At the start of May the Digital Health CRC hosted a national summit on Practice Analytics, with invited guests from key government and peak bodies in the Australian healthcare system. The event showcased Practice Analytics in Healthcare work being undertaken by the Digital health, which is an area interested in better understanding the use of data from disparate clinical sources to generate new information and health insights that lead to practice reflection by clinicians and ultimately positive health outcomes. Attendees discussed current initiatives and tools being developed to help health professionals and teams harness routinely collected electronic data, as well as priorities for establishing a national agenda in the Practice Analytics space.
The University of Sydney had a strong presence at the Practice Analytics Summit. The event was chaired by Professor Tim Shaw, Director of Research at the Digital health CRC and Professor of Digital Health at The University of Sydney. Reflecting on the summit Tim emphasised the importance of collaboration between key stakeholders in Practice Analytics. Tim said:
It was excellent to bring all the key stakeholders together in one room, and great to see their enthusiasm for working together to develop some lasting solutions.
Professor Tim Shaw, Director of Research at the Digital Health CRC
The Practice Analytics Summit also featured presentations from Digital Health CRC PhD Candidates undertaking Practice Analytics projects as part of the research program: ‘Using practice analytics to understand variation and support reflective practice’. Two of the PhD Candidates who where invited to speak are undertaking their research at The University of Sydney: Bernard Bucalon and Carol Pizzuti.
Bernard’s PhD project is exploring how electronic health data can be visualised to make it more actionable by health professionals reflecting on their practice. He said the aim of his research aims to:
“My research project aims to explore how routinely collected clinical data can generate new actionable insights for clinicians about their individual and team practice. Through a need finding study I aim to identify priority clinical indicators and to design personalised data visualisations to enable reflective practice.” – Bernard Bucalon, Industry PhD Candidate
Reflecting on presenting at the Digital Health CRCs Practice Analytics summit Bernard said participating in the event was exciting because:
“The Summit was a valuable opportunity for me to present my work and get feedback from key stakeholders across the Australian healthcare system. Despite the event being moved online, we were able to have productive discussions about our projects, through sharing our individual experiences and expertise. I appreciated how supportive the attendees from all the peak bodies were. I definitely left feeling energised with clarity around the direction of my research project.” – Bernard Bucalon, Industry PhD Candidate
Carol’s PhD project seeks to understand how electronic health data can be incorporated into continuing professional development to strengthen it.
“The aim of my PhD project is to understand how performance feedback obtained from electronic health data analysis and mining can be used to strengthen Continuing Professional Development (CPD) practices in the Australasian health-care landscape. Findings from this research will inform future design and implementation of processes and procedure for personalised CME programs and CPD plans for Australasian medical practitioners.” – Carol Pizzuti, Industry PhD Candidate
Being invited to present at the Digital Health CRCs Practice Analytics summit was a unique opportunity for Carol because:
“The Summit was an invaluable initiative. I had the chance to learn from fellow PhD students in Practice Analytics, experts in the fields of CPD and CME, and several stakeholders in the Australasian health-care system. I hope we will be able to organise more Practice Analytics Summits in the future. I truly believe that the recent Practice Analytics Summit was a great opportunity to connect Practice Analytics researchers with Industry stakeholders, and I am sure that future initiatives will strengthen collaborations, further research, and promote successful process and tool implementations.” – Carol Pizzuti, Industry PhD Candidate
The Practice Analytics Summit was an important event for beginning to establish shared goals for a national approach to Practice Analytics. For the University of Sydney, it was also a unique opportunity to showcase the outstanding outputs of our emerging Digital Health researchers to leading organisations in the Australian Healthcare sector.
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