Check out what the CEO of the consulting and training company Folks eSaúde, Claudio Giulliano, talks about the concept of e-Clinical Governance and its implementation challenges.

What is e-Clinical Governance?

It is a concept originally created by the NHS (National Health Service of England) that can be considered as a systematic strategy to maintain and improve the quality of healthcare in a health system. The e-Clinical Governance has some axes or is even related to the following subjects:  1) effectiveness and efficiency of clinical intervention;  2) risk management;  3) clinical audit;  4) education and training of professionals;  5) clinical development and research;  6) transparency in all processes and interpersonal relationships.

How is EPR related to e-Clinical Governance?

The e-Clinical Governance is a simple concept in theory, but difficult to put into practice. To define a clinical protocol, and effectively put it into practice, it is not trivial. How to measure the adhesion of doctors to the protocol defined? How to recommend to the doctors a standard prescription at the moment they are prescribing? How to follow up the patient’s progress and the final result of the medical conduct (clinical outcome)? It is only possible to answer these questions if the health institution uses a modern Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system with the integrated use of various technologies, such as: support systems to clinical decision, links to knowledge bases, automated clinical pathways, distance education (e-learning), clinical BI/DW, etc.

 

 “By defining a clinical protocol based on the best scientific evidence and putting it into practice through a modern EPR, coupled with systems to support decisions, the health institution transforms the healthcare practice by offering a simple, fast and efficient alternative, which proactively proposes to the health professional, especially doctors, a set of recommendations and therapeutic proposals that emanate from protocols established by the institution.”

 

How has e-Clinical Governance changed the concept of clinical-healthcare method?

Through the use of information technologies that put e-Clinical Governance into practice, it is possible to improve the clinical-healthcare results. For instance, by defining a clinical protocol based on the best scientific evidence and putting it into practice through a modern EPR, coupled with systems to support decisions, the health institution transforms the healthcare practice by offering a simple, fast and efficient alternative, which proactively proposes to the health professional, especially doctors, a set of recommendations and therapeutic proposals that emanate from protocols established by the institution. It undoubtedly improves the effectiveness and efficiency of clinical–healthcare process, with better quality and greater patient safety. In other words, it fully meets one of the axes of e-Clinical Governance.

What is the advantage of EPR Mobile in this new concept?

By placing the EPR information in the hands of the professional, in a simple, practical and convenient manner, the mobility solutions have revolutionized the adhesion of doctors and other professionals to EPR. If connected to clinical governance tools, they will certainly enhance the quality of health care and patient safety.

What are the main challenges for managers to innovate healthcare management practices?

Changing the traditional conduct of physicians is undoubtedly the main challenge. It is not trivial to convince a colleague to follow a clinical protocol. Some justify it by saying that it “paralyzes” the clinical practice, when in fact it offers a conduct validated by professionals from all over the world, within the various societies of medical specialty. To overcome this challenge, we need to offer a continuing medical education program that allows professionals to search for more updated knowledge with national and international references.

Another challenge of innovation is usability. In order to achieve success in the implementation of a software tool, it is essential that the user interface is simple and friendly, without requiring extensive training. Sometimes, a poor interface creates high resistance of professionals, thus hindering its actual adoption.

MV’s Electronic Patient Record solution features all the resources required to support healthcare institutions to meet the challenge to innovate the healthcare management practices. Click here to learn more about MV’s EPR.