App keeps stock of staff, patients and PPE

Justice Health and Forensic Mental Health Network has developed a Qlik-powered COVID-19 application to aid hospital management in managing staff, patients and stock levels of personal protective equipment (PPE). Updated frequently, and in combination, these three areas provide insight into the current healthcare environment.

The application allows end users to identify stock levels of PPE by location — with this information, management can relocate available stock to staff caring for patients that have fever or respiratory symptoms at other locations. This insight saves time as staff do not have to call a variety of locations to determine stock levels.

Using the application, healthcare managers will also be able to view absenteeism across locations and allocate staff to sites that most need support.

“Having an instant view of essential clinical and human resources information across the agency has been a key part of the Network’s response to COVID-19,” the Network’s Chief Executive Gary Forrest said.

“The Network delivers health care to adults and young people in contact with the NSW forensic mental health and criminal justice systems, in more than 100 custodial, inpatient and community settings.

“As a state-wide service, one of the biggest challenges is having visibility of PPE stock levels across our multiple sites and ensuring it is distributed appropriately.

“Using Qlik, we’ve developed an app that gives us visibility of PPE stock levels across our sites, meaning we can monitor use and reallocate PPE between locations, depending on need. Ultimately, this helps ensure our frontline health workers and patients are protected.

“Having shared visibility of this data is providing reassurance to staff that we have sufficient PPE stocks to keep them safe at work. It’s one less thing they need to contend with as they continue their outstanding job to maintain the health and safety of patients, and their colleagues and families,” Forrest said.

“We’re also using the app to track the number of patients in isolation, number of confirmed COVID-19 patient cases (zero as at 28 April 2020), number of staff on leave by reason (eg, sick, caring for someone, in isolation) and the number of staff on alternative work arrangements (eg, working from home).

“The app saves time on reporting and allows data to be viewed at an organisation-wide level, or by directorate, region and individual location. It’s also informing local and organisation-wide decisions on allocation of staffing and other clinical resources.

“As a result, we can optimise the care and support we provide to patients across NSW, and ensure our healthcare workers are protected while doing their very important job.”

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