Abstract— We designed and deployed a point-of-care (POC) clinical information system on a Motion tablet to allow data collection at the bedside by specialist auditors in support of organizational clinical audit objectives. This initiative has been undertaken in the context of the new National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards for Australia. Collected data was then warehoused in a Microsoft SQL Server Environment in real time, allowing immediate feedback through corporate level reporting. The reporting framework consists of self-service non-interactive reports and scorecards, and self-service interactive reports (or dashboards) where users can seek detailed information from an organizational level down to a patient level. Information is presented both numerically and graphically, including in a traffic light paradigm, to highlight clinical risks and their relative urgency. This paper examines the implementation of this system, its drivers, and the lessons learned from this unique initiative.

Index Terms— Mobile, clinical audit, information management, implementation.

C. A. Bain, T. Bucknall, J. Weir-Phyland, S. Metcalf, P. Ingram, and Lucy Nie are with Alfred Health in Melbourne, Australia (e-mail: {christopher.bain-informatics, t.bucknall, j.weir-phyland, s.metcalf, p.ingram, l.nie}@alfred.org.au).

Cite: Christopher A. Bain, Tracey Bucknall, Janet Weir-Phyland, Suzanne Metcalf, Pam Ingram, and Lucy Nie, " Meeting National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards – The Role of the Point-of-Care (POC) Audit Application," International Journal of e-Education, e-Business, e-Management and e-Learning vol. 3, no. 6, pp. 507-512, 2013.