New Clinical Decision Tool for Patient Treatment and Referrals

A Brisbane Medicare Local and six New Zealand district health boards have introduced a new clinical decision tool for doctors to support patient treatment and referrals.

Brisbane Medicare Local is joined by MidCentral, Bay of Plenty, Lakes, Tairawhiti, Taranaki and Waikato DHBs to become the first health boards in Australia and New Zealand to use the Map of Medicine, which allows doctors to access locally tailored evidence-based decision support at the point of care.

Map of Medicine provides access to local care pathways that guide patient management and increase the accuracy of referrals.  The tool helps patient care by providing doctors with instant access to comprehensive, clinically proven care pathways.  Patients are kept  informed of the clinical decisions during consultation, improving adherence to treatment.
Waikato DHB chief medical advisor Dr Tom Watson said: “Participating in the Map of Medicine is a great opportunity to be part of an international clinical fraternity who are using Map of Medicine to provide better outcomes for their patients and increased value across the health sector.”
Dr Damian Tomic, medical director of Midlands Health Network and project executive for Map of Medicine in the Midland region, says Map of Medicine helps clinicians refer patients to hospital at the right time. He said: "This is good for the whole health sector. It helps management of secondary workload through a reduction in inappropriate referrals.  Map of Medicine has been a great tool for bringing together primary and secondary care - we have great conversations between the two, which helps the whole health system run better.”
GPs in the six district health boards are now set to start developing pathways with the support of the Map of Medicine clinical editorial team.
Jennifer Dennington, Delivery and Implementation Team Lead at the Map of Medicine said: “The real value of Map of Medicine for GPs in Australia and New Zealand is that they now have locally relevant clinical information and referral criteria in one place. The Map can be integrated with primary care clinical systems, which means that pathways are ideal for use during a patient consultation. The care pathways also include administrative information, which can be a real time saver for a busy GP and allows them to spend more time caring for their patient.”