The first use of the national My Health Record to promote more robust safeguards for self-management of serious mental illness is being rolled out in South Australia.
According to a recent press release, patients in the Barossa Hills and Fleurieu Local Health Network will be the first to trial the AI2 software program developed by digital health experts at Flinders University.
Providing healthcare support
This initiative will add value to usual care as it will promote more timely communication as well as support for people in their treatment needs such as remembering appointments with their GPs, their medication, and the occasional extra help with their condition.
The University’s Digital Psychiatry and Personal Informatics Team described the Actionable Intime Insights, or ‘AI-Squared’ (AI2) program as a powerful e-health solution that compares Medicare data from My Health Record against standard care plans.
Benefits of the initiative
This will allow clinicians to intervene early to prevent relapse and hospitalisation.
It will help keep consumers connected with their case managers and other healthcare professionals when they transition from care back into the community.
Health-care systems rely on the consumer to follow their care plans and to recognise when they are not well and make an appointment.
However, many people can fall through the cracks, particularly if they do not have a support network to avoid the traumatic experience of relapse and hospitalisation.
- From an Individual perspective
This tool can be utilised to promote independence and empower the individual to manage and control their own recovery journey.
This allows the individual the scope to learn how to maintain and keep medication and appointments organised and up to date.
It has a safety mechanism of mediation and appointments being monitored and the appropriate bodies being alerted if required.
This tool has been devised to minimise the potentially debilitating impact that ongoing medication and professional supports that are at times may be required in an individual’s recovery journey.
It supports a fulfilling place with family and friends in the community.
- From a carer/support person perspective
This is a useful tool that can be utilised by the carer/support people of the individual.
This provides an opportunity for a level of independence to enable self-management of medication and appointments, a role that some individuals have left traditionally up to the designated carer.
If there is a lapse of medication compliance or missed appointments, the individual and carer can be contacted to offer appropriate support mechanisms to assist in embedding a medication and appointment routine.
If a carer/support person requires respite or is not available, there is a mechanism available to support the individual with medication and appointments.
If the individual is not familiar with these processes, there is a safeguard in place to allow for early intervention to minimise any harm to the individual.
About the initiative
Development of the new electronic health record program received funding from the Medical Research Future Fund.
The software is hosted by the SA Health and Medical Research Institute.