Digital monitoring of doctor performance gets the thumbs up
EMBARGOED UNTIL 12 NOON SUNDAY 3 NOVEMBER 2002
The electronic monitoring of doctor training and performance via personal digital assistants (PDAs) is the way of the future according to a study published in the latest edition of the Medical Journal of Australia.
The recent failure of professional monitoring systems in UK, particularly in Bristol, highlighted the need for improved monitoring of training and performance - a point not missed by a research team from the Department of Anaesthesia, Pain Management and Peri-operative Medicine, Barwon Health, Geelong.
Drs Paul D Bent, Stephen N Bolsin, Bernie J Creati, Andrew J Patrick and Mark E Colson set out to access the practicality of using PDAs for the collection of logbook data, procedural performance data and critical incident reports in anaesthetic trainees.
Their pilot study was conducted at two tertiary referral centres (in Victoria and NZ) and a large district hospital in Queensland. Six accredited registrars and their supervisors participated.
It was found that the trainees could reliably enter data into their PDAs and the data could be transferred to a central database, which allowed for remote analysis before the results were fed back to the trainees - saving time and enhancing quality control.
Dr Bent says that PDAs are a technology still in their infancy but which offer great benefits to medical practice.
"Already around 26 per cent of medical practitioners worldwide use this technology and this number is expected to double in the next three years," Dr Bent says.
"Our study showed that PDAs can be effectively used to monitor the professional performance of trainee anaesthetists and it won't be long before they are standard issue across the entire medical workforce."
The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.
CONTACT: Dr Paul D Bent
Phone: 03 5226 7333
E-mail: paulbent@bigpond.net.au
Judith Tokley, AMA Public Affairs, 0408 824 306