An innovative chronic disease digital prevention research program has proven to reduce hospital stays and presentations.
Led by Professor Clara Chow (Cardiologist Western Sydney Local Health District (WSLHD) and Academic Director Westmead Applied Research Centre (WARC), Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney) the program has so far been implemented to approximately 10,000 cardiology patients in WSLHD.
In the initial evaluation of approximately the first 5,000 patients, repeat hospitalisation was reduced by 10 to 20 percent.
Professor Chow was pleased with the positive results.
“We were very happy to hear that patients liked the program.
“Patients fed back that they felt connected and supported by our hospital after they were discharged. The trends to reduced repeat hospital visits were pleasing as I think patients generally prefer not to return if they don’t need to,” she said.
The prevention program delivers personalised text messages and other digital media to support patients with chronic health conditions to manage their condition and prevent worsening.
“Content for each participant’s personalised program is selected using a pre-programmed algorithm dependent on participant characteristics,” Professor Chow said.
The content (messages, digital media, videos) used in programs have been co-designed with multiple stakeholders including clinicians, patients and experts, aligned with clinical guidelines, and tested in research studies.
Program participants receive a specified number of text messages per week with options to supplement with other digital media for a defined period.”
“In general content comprises information, tips, motivational messaging to promote behaviour change and facilitate connection to care as needed to prevent health deterioration,” Professor Chow said.
Now successfully piloted in cardiology patients the program will be translated from a research setting into clinical services supporting up to 5,000 patients per month, for up to six months, with a potential to scale and grow.
Participants in the program will be patients that have been seen in WSLHD Facilities.
Professor Chow is proud to have designed and developed this solution locally.
“This started as a research project, was shown to be effective, and it is very exciting that this now becomes part of our health service offerings in Western Sydney.
“We work in a busy area, and it’s rewarding for all involved to be able to give back to our community through our research, she said.
WSLHD, WARC and the University of Sydney will partner to translate the research into new clinical services.
The goal will be to implement and scale an evidence-proven cardiovascular and chronic disease digital prevention program.
The Digital prevention service will be operatioinalised as an innovative new service launching from WSLHD’s Westmead Innovation Centre under the oversight of Nathan Moore, WSLHD’s Director of Innovation and Redesign.
Nathan is thrilled to be working with Professor Chow.
“Together we are translating the amazing research delivered by WARC supporting health outcomes for their patients to our community in WSLHD and beyond,” he said.
This project has resulted in reduced hospital stays, presentations and other health outcomes for its participants focused primarily in the cardiovascular health space with pilots in other specialties as well.
“The vision is to take these benefits and scalably deploy them across WSLHD supporting more patients in more areas.
“By leveraging our networks and methodologies within the Westmead Innovation Centre we will strive to take this fantastic innovation from a research setting into business as usual healthcare delivery,” Nathan said.