Health network invention could reduce waiting times - 2009

16 December 2009

While hospital emergency wards brace themselves for the silly season, a health care system that could take non-emergency patients out of emergency waiting rooms and into more appropriate care has been devised by a Queensland University of Technology industrial design student.

Carl Behrendorff, who will graduate from QUT this month, said he had heard many complaints about waiting times in emergency rooms and saw a need for a system which could refer non-emergency patients to GPs and health care clinics, while providing information to other emergency patients to keep them updated on their wait.

Mr Behrendorff spent the final year of his course researching and designing such a system, which led to the creation of MEDItag, a three-metre long touch-screen topped table which could relay information from Medicare cards and health providers to emergency room patients.

The design envisions a network of health care providers, GPs, medical clinics and hospitals linked to the Medicare card system, which he says could be utilised to hold more information about patients' health, such as allergies and previous medical attention received that could impact on future treatment at the hospital.

Mr Behrendorff said people often went to emergency rooms because they did not know where else to go, meaning that these rooms could become full with people who could be helped by GPs but MEDItag would assist emergency rooms to distribute non-life threatening cases to other quicker avenues for help.

"When patients enter an emergency room, a triage nurse assesses their condition, and depending on how critical that is, they could be waiting for hours to see a doctor," Mr Behrendorff said.

"With MEDItag, the triage nurse could recommend certain tests that needed to be done and information about these could be added to Medicare cards.

"When the patient places their card on the MEDItag table, information will appear on the table surface about what tests or health care they require, whether there were local clinics that could provide them and options for booking appointments at those clinics."

Mr Behrendorff said the table-top display would disappear immediately when the card is removed.

He said the display could be seen privately by the patient by using a special mat which only lets the information be visible to someone looking directly over it.

Mr Behrendorff said he hoped an organisation like Queensland Health would help develop his design further.

Media contact: Rachael Wilson, QUT media officer, 07 3138 1150 or rachael.wilson@qut.edu.au.