IT in aged care leadership committee announced

The Health Informatics Society of Australia has elected a 10-member multidisciplinary leadership committee to its Aged Care Informatics special interest group to continue its promotion of information technology in aged care in the year ahead.

 

Aged Care Informatics Chair Andew Georgiou, an Associate Professor at the University of New South Wales

The Aged Care Informatics special interest group (SIG) of the Health Informatics Society of Australia (HISA) has elected a 10-member multi-disciplinary leadership committee to continue its work promoting technology in aged care in 2013-14.

Members of the new leadership committee, which range from  academics to IT managers and directors of nursing, were elected unopposed at the SIG’s annual general meeting, which took place at HISA’s Aged Care Informatics Conference in Adelaide last Wednesday.

Current Chair of the Aged Care Informatics SIG Andrew Georgiou said the activities of the multi-disciplinary SIG have and will continue to centre on developing the role of information and communication technology (ICT) for the enhancement of safe and quality aged care.

“Informatics, IT and clinical information systems have a big role to play in aged care” Mr Georgiou said.

“If we look a the problems aged care has particularly around co-ordination, IT can play a critical role in providing coordination and enhancing delivery of care,” said Mr Georgiou, Associate Professor at the University of New South Wales’ Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research.

Members of the SIG share an interest in how IT can be of value in aged care and while the topic doesn’t get a lot of prominence, more research and discussion is needed to determine how technology can address problems in the the sector, he said.

“The SIG is keen to raise those issues and to get a conversation going beyond the informatics people.

“We want to make that link with people who are more IT savvy and also those in care roles.

“And that’s a good thing because it means we’re all coming together with an aim to improve the health of people in care and in the community,” said Mr Georgiou, who has been chair of the committee for the last two years.

Executive roles for the coming year, including chair and secretary, will be decided at the next meeting.

The following members have been elected to the 2013-14 Aged Care Informatics SIG leadership committee:

  • Andrew Georgiou, Assoicate Professor, Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research, part of the Australian Institute of Health Innovation at the University of New South Wales.
  • Jennifer Dunn, GP / Aged Care Liaison & Provider Engagement Coordinator, St Vincents & Mater Health Sydney eHealth Site
  • Ralph La Tella, ICT and Information Services Officer, Health Information Management Association of Australia Ltd
  • Damien Malone, Facility Manager/Director of Nursing, Somercare – ‘The First Resort in Aged Care’
  • Andrew McLachlan, Director, People & Technology Solutions
  • Sean O’Donnell, ICT Manager, Calvary Aged Care & Retirement Services
  • Llyr Otto, Clinical Risk Manager, The Whiddon Group Corporate Office
  • Larissa Popowski, eHealth Program Officer, South Eastern Medicare Locals
  • Jeffrey Soar, Chair in Human-Centred Technology, University of Southern Queensland
  • Ping Yu, Director, Health Information Technology Research Laboratory School of Information Systems and Technology – Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences, University of Wollongong

 

 

Tags: aged-care-informatics, andrew-georgiou, hic, hisa,

3 thoughts on “IT in aged care leadership committee announced

  1. When I read the headline ” IT in aged care leadership committee announced” I got quite excited.
    AT LAST! I thought! IT technologies are going to be used to reduce the social isolation and mental deterioration of older people in residential care!!
    Then I read the article and became disappointed… again.
    If I understand correctly the Committee will focus on using IT to improve service delivery and efficiency not for the social and intellectual benefit of residents….
    For over fifteen years I have facilitated Current Affairs Discussion Groups in U3A Clubs, Retirement Villages and Residential Care facilities.
    For the last year or so I have been trying to find and develop ways of Bridging the Gap” between existing and readily available IT technologies and older people who are isolated, to a greater or lesser degree from family and friends in hostels and residential care =facilities.
    I have discovered that there are many older people in residential care unable to get the best use out of their Mobile Phones let alone laptops and the Internet. SKYPE is practically unknown!
    In the electronic communication age many older people are unable or reluctant to use the new technologies to keep in touch with their friends, children and grandchildren…..
    So far I have been able to enlist the help of one, girls College in sending their senior students into nearby residential villages to demystify new technologies to the residents.
    The young women provide non-threatening tuition that is acceptable to older people, particularly to older women AND the girls themselves benefit from an improved sense of their own self-worth and the cross-generational communication.
    I know of an 80 years old grandmother who, every day, communicates, face-to-face, voice-to-voice, via SKYPE, with children and grandchildren around the world….
    Now THAT is how to make therapeutic use of IT…..

    Peter Leith. Heidelberg West.3081.

  2. It is great to see the number of residents who come into our residential care facility with their Lap Tops. Our Facility is modern and we encourage the use of IT that is focused primarily with the resident and families in mind.
    That Special Birthday or Function, can included thanks to Skype families in Italy, Germany,Spain or wherever! Grandchildren and the extended family can have such fun! Large TV screens add quality with this dimension.
    We look forward with our planning to introduce both the Leisure Lifestyle program and Menus of the day to the resident via our Web. The Welcome Greeting a hotel service for those at Admission time.
    We have been fortunate in having a progressive and youthful outlook as part of our planning process, who at the end of the day placed a great emphasis on the power of IT.

  3. Hi Ptere

    Absolutely agree. There is too much batting around the edges with IT in Elderly Care. The direct route is to look at the problems the Customer faces not what IT thinks they ought to have

    1 loneliness. Dispersed families means the concept of the “Village looks after its own” has gone. Relatives and friends are dispersed every where. So technology needs to focus on providing the easy secure route to do this. Not Face book, not iPads and tablets but something basic and family secure. Family Face book if you like but without all the complications of IOS, Windows, boot ups etc etc. My Company has done this with a native, embedded focussed family social application with requires nothing more that touch buttons for Mum and a web browser at the family end. Not only that you have to look at what other delivery mediums there are. Every single elderly person has a TV switched on. Why not use that to deliver Family Talk or whatever?.
    Quick call from daughter brings up a notification on the TV that daughter is calling,”do you want to talk?” The technology is there with embedded apps on mini web servers to do this

    2 Care Provision; Same applies. Monitor discretely to be aware if mums routines are not as they should be. SMS alerts so daughter can have a look see instead of worrying about going round to check on Mum all the time. the technology is there. Its new technology development but it is available now and the application works fine

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