On Thursday, 23 February, we welcomed our first patients at the Victorian Heart Hospital (VHH), Australia’s first dedicated cardiac hospital.
If you have toured the VHH, you will have undoubtedly noticed many ‘shiny’ devices. Some of the equipment you may be familiar with, such as the Workstations on Wheels (WOWs) and some of the equipment is brand new to Monash Health, such as the 345 clinical handsets.
Zebra Clinical Handsets
Clinical team members can use the handsets to access the EMR from these pocket-sized Zebra handsets. The handsets will give easy and secure access to EMR details at a patient’s bedside, make and receive calls, and receive alerts and messages via Teams. These smart, fully portable devices will supplement and, in some cases, reduce the number of WOWs required and provide a communication solution that replaces pagers at the VHH.
As patients enter the hospital, four Nexa QFlow Kiosks integrated with the EMR, HealthTrack, and the Philips Radiology system stand ready for them to scan their Medicare card, which will bring up details about their appointment. For inpatients, there are 100 entertainment units allowing patients to order meals, watch TV, listen to the radio, and look up information about the hospital all from the comfort of their room.
For clinical support teams, there are 100 RoomLink panels located outside each room, integrated with the EMR, which displays information including safety precautions, patient status, visitor information, allergies, and clinician presence. These provide our teams visual cues from the nursing station, further enabling coordination between the support team.
Newly integrated with the EMR are Anaesthetic machines, ECG carts, Mobile Vital Signs Monitors, and Smart Pumps, giving our treating teams every opportunity to deliver seamless care.
Automated Medication Cabinet (AMC)
Our 13 Automated Medication Cabinets (AMCs) are new to Monash Health. These innovative cabinets are integrated with the EMR and Merlin (Pharmacy) system. Specially trained team members will use their thumbprint and patient barcode to unlock the cabinet; only the drawer with the allocated dose of required medication for that patient will open. A light inside indicates the correct box holding the dispensed medication. This system has many benefits, including reducing medication errors, increasing patient safety, better workflow, tracking and managing inventory.
Greg Horvat, Digital Program Manager (VHH Technology), experienced relief and pride that the day has finally come, and the hospital is open. Greg and his team have worked with many stakeholders for several years to deliver this project, including clinicians, infection prevention, occupational health and safety teams and vendors.
“It’s been great being part of the project; putting in the hours and work to make it happen was worth it. It wouldn’t have been possible without the support of many behind the scenes,” said Greg, who is very proud of his contribution to the project, “In years to come, when my kids and I drive by the hospital, I’ll know I had a part in building it which is special.”
Emilio Pozo, Executive Director of Digital Health, said, “The intersection of health, technology and innovation is evident at the VHH. Once fully operational, and with the help of these devices and integrated systems, the team at the VHH will provide 28,000 emergency patient assessments, 10,000 interventional catheterisation procedures and 2,000 open heart surgeries. We’re excited to provide the digital support to enable Monash Health to enter a new era in treating and preventing heart disease – one of the biggest killers in our community.”
For regular updates and key information regarding the VHH please visit the Victorian Heart Hospital Information web page.
Approved by: Emilio Pozo, Executive Director Digital Health