Centre for Health Services Research, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Digital Metro North, Metro North Hospital and Health Service, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Appl Clin Inform. 2021 Mar;12(2):229-236. doi: 10.1055/s-0041-1725186. Epub 2021 Mar 24.
Queensland, Australia has been successful in containing the COVID-19 pandemic. Underpinning that response has been a highly effective virus containment strategy which relies on identification, isolation, and contact tracing of cases. The dramatic emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic rendered traditional paper-based systems for managing contact tracing no longer fit for purpose. A rapid digital transformation of the public health contact tracing system occurred to support this effort.
The objectives of the digital transformation were to shift legacy systems (paper or standalone electronic systems) to a digitally enabled public health system, where data are centered around the consumer rather than isolated databases. The objective of this paper is to outline this case study and detail the lessons learnt to inform and give confidence to others contemplating digitization of public health systems in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This case study is set in Queensland, Australia. Universal health care is available. A multidisciplinary team was established consisting of clinical informaticians, developers, data strategists, and health information managers. An agile "pair-programming" approach was undertaken to application development and extensive change efforts were made to maximize adoption of the new digital workflows. Data governance and flows were changed to support rapid management of the pandemic.
The digital coronavirus application (DCOVA) is a web-based application that securely captures information about people required to quarantine and creates a multiagency secure database to support a successful containment strategy.
Most of the literature surrounding digital transformation allows time for significant consultation, which was simply not possible under crisis conditions. Our observation is that staff was willing to adopt new digital systems because the reason for change (the COVID-19 pandemic) was clearly pressing. This case study highlights just how critical a unified purpose, is to successful, rapid digital transformation.
澳大利亚昆士兰州成功控制了 COVID-19 疫情。支撑这一应对措施的是一项非常有效的病毒控制策略，该策略依赖于病例的识别、隔离和接触者追踪。COVID-19 大流行的急剧出现使得传统的纸质接触者追踪系统不再适用。为了支持这一努力，公共卫生接触者追踪系统进行了快速数字化转型。
数字化转型的目标是将遗留系统（纸质或独立的电子系统）转移到数字化的公共卫生系统，在该系统中，数据以消费者为中心，而不是孤立的数据库。本文的目的是概述这一案例研究，并详细介绍所吸取的经验教训，为其他考虑数字化公共卫生系统以应对 COVID-19 大流行的人提供信息和信心。
本案例研究在澳大利亚昆士兰州进行。全民医疗保健服务。成立了一个多学科团队，由临床信息专家、开发人员、数据策略师和卫生信息经理组成。采用敏捷的“结对编程”方法进行应用程序开发，并进行了广泛的变革努力，以最大限度地采用新的数字工作流程。改变了数据治理和流程，以支持对大流行的快速管理。
数字化冠状病毒应用程序（DCOVA）是一个基于网络的应用程序，它安全地捕获需要隔离的人员的信息，并创建一个多机构安全数据库，以支持成功的控制策略。
大多数关于数字化转型的文献都允许进行大量的咨询，而在危机情况下，这是根本不可能的。我们的观察是，员工愿意采用新的数字系统，因为变革的原因（COVID-19 大流行）显然很紧迫。本案例研究突出了统一目标对于成功、快速的数字化转型是多么关键。
