Medtasker roll-out at Royal Hobart Hospital delivered one month ahead of schedule

The Medtasker implementation, a partnership between Telstra Health, the Tasmanian Health Service (THS) and Department of Health, aims to improve clinical communication and task management in the Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH) Emergency Department (ED).

Successful implementation began a month ahead of schedule in preparation for an anticipated increased bed demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The initial Go-Live with doctors in the ED has been considered a monumental success, so much so that the roll-out was immediately extended to include night shift and additional workflows.

The second Go-Live was an Australian first; a seamless integration across multiple disciplines in RHH’s brand new theatre precinct including K Block introducing Medtasker to nurses enabling them to assign tasks to orderlies, cleaning staff, peri-operative aides and theatre supports.

Once complete, the third Go-Live will see Medtasker extended to K Block clinicians and anaesthetic technicians, as well as doctors and nurses across the rest of RHH.

Theatre K-Block Floor Co-ordinator Paul Geeves said: “There are a lot less bells ringing and the oversight from the desktop [dashboard] is a fantastic function for ensuring accountability.”

Medtasker is a Telstra Health enterprise grade, secure clinical and multidisciplinary task management and communication solution. It was designed by clinical staff to help improve patient safety, increase hospital efficiency and transparency, and reduce medico-legal risk. Since its implementation, Medtasker has assisted in clearing communication pathways at RHH and has increased visibility to patient referrals in the ED, and patient management within and across teams.

Medtasker has enabled RHH to more rapidly understand inpatient journeys. Further, Medtasker is helping RHH to minimise pressure on the ED and wards by streamlining communication and referrals.

Clinical Director of Acute Medical Services at RHH Doctor Paul MacIntyre said, “It’s absolutely brilliant. The roll-out has been seamless. As well as improving patient flow and efficiency within our Emergency Department, Medtasker’s simple usability has enabled employees to adapt quickly to the new communication system. Our medical staff are enjoying greater visibility to patient referrals, and more streamlined collaboration between departments within the hospital. I couldn’t be happier.”

When setting and automating tasks, Medtasker uses an on-duty directory to ensure clinical messages and updates are assigned directly to the correct healthcare professional. At the end of a shift, tasks are automatically assigned to the next staff member in the role to ensure that no task is left incomplete.

Medtasker is being used on compatible Android and iOS devices (either supplied by health professionals or supplied by the hospital) and is able to be integrated with other communication systems such as pagers. In RHH, patient-related communications such as tasks, clinical photography, result notifications and escalations are sent securely to staff via Medtasker.

Telstra Health Regional Business Development Manager, Diane Campbell, said, “We are delighted to have partnered with Royal Hobart Hospital to roll out Telstra Health’s Task Management App. We’d like to thank the entire RHH staff for their focused commitment and contribution in making the project a resounding success that is benefiting patients and staff.”

Medtasker is already enabling targeted assistance and workload rebalancing within the hospital and is providing clinicians and managers with rich data upon which can help make decisions and improve patient care. This will also help improve patient safety, increase hospital efficiency and transparency, and reduce medico-legal risk.

You can find out more about Medtasker by going to the Telstra Health website at: www.telstrahealth.com