IT students develop emergency solution

AT last, someone has come up with a cure for doctor’s handwriting.

A group of third-year students from the School of Information Technology spent ten weeks last year developing a wireless technology prototype in the emergency department of St John of God Murdoch.

Under the supervision of their lecturers Shri Rai and Raj Gururajan, the six students observed the action in the emergency department and the data processing systems at the national office to find out how systems could be streamlined at the hospital.

“The students found that doctors were scribbling down the details of patients on paper, which were then transcribed onto a computer database,” said course supervisor Dr Gururajan.

“This system was not only very time consuming, but also created room for error in the double handling of information.

“The students developed a system where doctors could input the information directly into the database using personal digital assistants. This system was much faster, as the doctors could use drop-down menus for most categories and avoid mistakes through misinterpretations of handwriting.”

The prototype is currently being tested in the information systems unit of St John of God Murdoch, and the students won the Peter Fillery Commendation Award in the recent WA Information Technology and Telecommunications Awards for their investigations.

In follow up work, Joshua Last, a student from the team, is providing the necessary IT support to take this prototype to the next stage for his Honours project and PhD students Daniel Piccoli and Mark Abernethy have just begun to investigate the possibility of developing a voice recognition capacity in the system.

Based on the success of this prototype, Gururajan and Rai are supervising a team of PhD and Honours students who are examining the possibilities of developing a similar solution to an operating theatre management system at St. John of God Health Care.

“This will be much more challenging to develop, with more data options than in treating emergency department patients, but with real advantages. As the patient leaves the operating theatre, all of the information is already logged into the computer to ensure appropriate follow-up care,” said Mr Rai.

The team has been supported by Professor Arnold Depickere, Head of School of Information Technology, the Centre for Electronic Commerce and Internet Studies and St John of God Hospital, and will be seeking forms of external support.