The Integrated Care Program
The Pharmaceutical Alliance has been a proud partner in the development of the Integrated Care Program (ICP). The ICP involves the application of evidence-based best practice guidelines into electronic decision support software (EDSS) and was designed for use by the GP during the patient consultation.
The ICP was at the forefront of the evolution of EDSS in information management, and provides a means of managing the increasing complexity of medical knowledge. Independent evaluation of ICP during development showed a positive impact on clinical practice in line with guidelines, with GPs seeing value in such a system. Feedback indicated that the ICP is a useful tool for clinicians and patients, and the number of asthma patients with a management plan almost doubled.
Phase 1 partners:
Federal Dept of Health and Ageing, Central Bayside, Hunter Urban and Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Divisions of General Practice, Health Communications Network, and the Health Insurance Commission (now Medicines Australia) and The Pharmaceutical Alliance
Phase 2 partners:
Federal Dept of Health & Ageing, Central Bayside Division of General Practice and The Pharmaceutical Alliance
'The lessons of the ICP are likely to have a major influence on future programs to support clinical care in Australia for years to come.' |
Focus of the program
The quantity and complexity of medical knowledge expands rapidly and requires more sophisticated knowledge systems to ensure information is current, accurate and relevant. EDSS offers both clinicians and patients the means of managing this increasing complexity to help ensure that the best standard of care is provided.
The development of the ICP was at the forefront of this information management progression and has provided valuable insights into the:
- necessity of having clinical guidelines that are current, validated and relevant to the clinical workflow and particular situation which can be used within IT/IM systems
- need to align the level of decision support appropriate to the situation
- value in enabling tools such as decision support to integrate and support the basic GP clinical information system
Notable Outcomes
- adaptation of guidelines at local level
- translation of guidlelines into local decision support
- high level of clinician acceptance (over 90% of GPs in each phase)
- a positive impact on clinical practice
- increased use of asthma management plans (from 49% to 85%)
- more appropriate use of preventative medication and improved use of symptom control
- increased level of disease assessment with use of spirometry positively influenced
- improved patient knowledge and awareness through; an increased awareness of trigger factors and some evidence of improved outcomes such as reduction in waking due to asthma
- patient support for GP use of the EDSS during asthma consultations
Further reading – ‘The Integrated Care Program – A Case Study in Clinical Decision Support’, Enrico Coiera, June 2005