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ObsCare - Clinical Practice Management Software for Obsterics and Gynecology
Published on 05 September 2018
Portugal
Norte
This is the good practice's implementation level. It can be national, regional or local.
About this good practice
This practice aims to tackle several problems on the gynecological and obstetric practice, such as:
The c-sections rates are usually high and not efficiently monitored; there’s lack of structured scientific data; the reports for DGS are mandatory; the data needs to be traceable in order to produce reliable scientific knowledge and, finally, time is saved when all the data is gathered on the same app.
Through a better chart of the patient information the number of unnecessary surgical procedures (c-sections) can be reduced with the app, and it is applied through all the day-to-day procedures, paperless and used via web.
The program is implemented on each hospital, to be used by doctors, nurses and admin staff for daily communication but also to record data from every doctor-patient contact on the gynecological and obstetric practice. This means there’s a quick access to the available info but, at the same time, doctors and staff are also able to complete the missing data.
The main stakeholders are the Hospitals, Regional and National Health Service Administrations; and the main beneficiaries are the mothers, families and doctors.
Obscare started being used in Hospital de S. João 16 years ago, and right now, 2 to 3 new hospitals a year adopt and implement the technology and procedures.
The c-sections rates are usually high and not efficiently monitored; there’s lack of structured scientific data; the reports for DGS are mandatory; the data needs to be traceable in order to produce reliable scientific knowledge and, finally, time is saved when all the data is gathered on the same app.
Through a better chart of the patient information the number of unnecessary surgical procedures (c-sections) can be reduced with the app, and it is applied through all the day-to-day procedures, paperless and used via web.
The program is implemented on each hospital, to be used by doctors, nurses and admin staff for daily communication but also to record data from every doctor-patient contact on the gynecological and obstetric practice. This means there’s a quick access to the available info but, at the same time, doctors and staff are also able to complete the missing data.
The main stakeholders are the Hospitals, Regional and National Health Service Administrations; and the main beneficiaries are the mothers, families and doctors.
Obscare started being used in Hospital de S. João 16 years ago, and right now, 2 to 3 new hospitals a year adopt and implement the technology and procedures.
Resources needed
The current team consists of 6 programmers and a project manager; it also counts on the help of the various health professionals who daily use the program in their clinical practice and thus making a great contribution to their improvement through the their feedbacks.
Evidence of success
At the hospitals where Obscare is being used, we can observe:
a decrease on the c-section rates; an increase on the knowledge and scientific production; more detailed clinical analysis on the obstetric practice (ObsCare collects about 1600 births each month), and the collection of +250 indicators on quality, production and performance of the obstetrics service, increase of 46% in scientific production compared to other hospitals without ObsCare.
a decrease on the c-section rates; an increase on the knowledge and scientific production; more detailed clinical analysis on the obstetric practice (ObsCare collects about 1600 births each month), and the collection of +250 indicators on quality, production and performance of the obstetrics service, increase of 46% in scientific production compared to other hospitals without ObsCare.
Potential for learning or transfer
Public authorities should consider this simple innovative solution for public health, operational and financial sustainability reasons. It is well known that unnecessary surgical procedures are not only a great liability for the patients’ wellbeing but also a waste of valuable resources for public healthcare providers.
This project has already been implemented in hospitals through Portugal (in some for 16 years). All hospitals perform c-sections, therefore, the need to decrease this kind of intervention is common to several hospitals and regional areas in different countries.
To boost the potential interest for other areas, the ObsCare technology is adjustable not only to the Portuguese reality as to other populations as well, since it already includes a translating option for other languages; moreover, it was developed considering the clinical and medical international standards.
This project has already been implemented in hospitals through Portugal (in some for 16 years). All hospitals perform c-sections, therefore, the need to decrease this kind of intervention is common to several hospitals and regional areas in different countries.
To boost the potential interest for other areas, the ObsCare technology is adjustable not only to the Portuguese reality as to other populations as well, since it already includes a translating option for other languages; moreover, it was developed considering the clinical and medical international standards.
Further information
Website
Good practice owner
You can contact the good practice owner below for more detailed information.
Organisation
VirtualCare
Portugal
Norte
Contact
Project Manager